Master of Arts in History

The Master of Arts in History provides its students with an exhaustive array of opportunities to pursue the world’s great personalities, events, nations, trends, periods, conflicts, and markings of progress. The degree program ensures that students will learn about the "big picture" through exposure to four historical perspectives or concentrations in Ancient and Classical, American, European, and Global History, while allowing options to tailor the major to individual needs during graduate study.

Degree Program Objectives

In addition to the institutional and degree level learning outcomes objectives, this degree also seeks the following specific learning outcomes of its graduates. With reference to each of the respective areas of history, graduates in this degree program will be able to:

  • Appraise different approaches to history and historical method to evaluate and propose a specific methodology for a particular research project or examination.
  • Define, classify, and articulate in oral or written form the major trends, events, and people that have shaped world history and evaluate them in context by comparison and contrast.
  • Define, classify, and articulate in oral or written form the major trends, events, and people that have shaped Ancient, European, American, and Global history and evaluate them in context by comparison or contrast.
  • Examine, analyze, and evaluate at least one specialized historical sub-discipline.
  • Synthesize historical issues into a coherent and comprehensive paradigm of the human condition.
  • Analyze data, information, and concepts pertinent to various methodologies of historical research.
  • Create a historical research proposal in which data, information, and concepts can be evaluated and synthesized.

Degree Program Requirements

Core Requirements (6 semester hours)

Students must choose a concentration for this degree program and may select from American History, Ancient and Classical History, European History or the Global History concentrations. Students who choose the Masters program - Practicum Version Option may also select from a Concentration in Public History.

Concentration in Ancient and Classical History (21 semester hours)

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

  • Explain and critique Ancient Greece’s political, economic, social and intellectual movements.
  • Explain and critique Roman history from its beginnings until the Age of Constantine including the political and social developments in the Republic and the early empire.
  • Examine and appraise great Byzantium leaders, the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire, the recapture of Constantinople from the crusaders, and the impact of Byzantium culture on Western intellect.
  • Explain and assess European social, political, economic, and religious institutions and cultural and intellectual phenomena in the light of the changing historical environment from the end of the Ancient World to the Renaissance.
  • Explain and assess the medieval church and rise of the Renaissance papacy; growth of humanism, including painters, architects, and sculptors; city-states and monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire; religious upheavals of Protestantism; Anabaptists; the Catholic Reformation.

Concentration Requirements (21 semester hours):

And select 1 course from the following:


Concentration in European History (21 semester hours)

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

  • Distinguish the major social, political, and cultural changes of the Enlightenment in Europe from the death of Louis XIV to the fall of Napoleon.
  • Investigate the intellectual, social, and economic history including the industrial revolutions, the age of ideologies, the new imperialism, and the coming of the Great War.
  • Discern the origins of World War I in Europe and assess the combatants, strategy and tactics, technological innovation; war in France; war at sea; the peace settlement; and the occupation.
  • Compare and contrast the economies, industry, society, and culture of the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Germany during World War II.
  • Assess modern European history since the Congress of Vienna including social, economic, cultural and political experiences common to Europe and how developments differentiated from those in most other parts of the world.

Concentration Requirements (21 semester hours):

And select 1 course from the following:

Concentration in American History (21 semester hours)

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

  • Compare and contrast historical context of 18th century British and colonial American political and constitutional philosophies, social norms and societal structure, economics, religious concepts, and foreign and diplomatic policy.
  • Discern and assess the political, economic, cultural, and social aspects of the Civil War including the causes and the conflict's aftermath.
  • Explain changes in American society such as industrialization, immigration, and urbanization; isolationism and collective security; World War I; changing values; stock market crash; the Great Depression, and the cultural, social, political, military, and economic growth to the present.
  • Critique the history of expressive and material culture; historical contexts of various artistic movements; cultural imperialism; cultural appropriation, creativity, and identity; and expressions of social difference and deviance in the United States.
  • Discern the origins, content, and judicial interpretations of the U.S. Constitution and the Supreme Court’s evolving decisions on issues such as States’ rights, civil rights, the Commerce Clause, due process in criminal and other proceedings, and protected freedoms.

Concentration Requirements (21 semester hours):

And select 1 course from the following:

Concentration in Global History (21 semester hours)

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

  • Contrast and compare the history, scope, and consequences of the American, French, Mexican, Russian, Chinese, Cuban, Vietnamese, and Iranian revolutions.
  • Analyze the relationships among technology, culture, and politics in a variety of social and historical settings ranging from 19th century factories to 21st century techno dance floors.
  • Explore the recent historiographical approaches within the history of science from the 17th through the 20th centuries from the physical sciences to natural history and medicine.
  • Examine the practice of piracy in ancient times in the 18th century and the rise of modern piracy with high-speed boats and automatic weapons in the 21st century.
  • Distinguish the historical development, central beliefs, and practices of each of the major world religions.

                       

Concentration Requirements (21 semester hours):

And select 1 course from the following:

Concentration in Public History (18 semester hours)

Whether in archives, museums, cultural resources, historical editing, or heritage tourism, public history is the presentation and interpretation of the past to the public. Public historians should not merely learn the technical aspects of a given field; they should also be versed in the historiography and methodologies of contemporary scholarship so that they can apply skills and knowledge in the public realm. In that regard, even they work in a variety of professional venues usually outside the academy, public historians share roles as researchers and interpreters of history with their academy colleagues. Public historians find employment in archives, museums, historic preservation agencies, historic sites, cultural resource firms, national parks and forests, editorial positions, and historical agencies.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this concentration, the student will be able to:

  • Categorize and assess important historical developments in public history and identify the intellectual, ethical, and professional issues that public historians confront.
  • Evaluate and verify current institutional collection policy and practices based on standard archival and records practice.
  • Establish and reconstruct the processing of a collection: arrangement and description, preservation and digitization, and develop the skills necessary to successfully undertake applied research.
  • Test and apply the use of oral history techniques and methodology to demonstrate how oral history supports a diverse resource  base and audience across interdisciplinary fields.
  • Distinguish and prioritize issues such as the relationship of collections and landscapes to identify the intersection of commerce and culture; and the influence of museums and exhibitions in preserving a view of the past and developing an image of progress.
  • Prescribe and test the selection criteria for strategies for preservation, metadata to support digital preservation, maintaining the integrity and authenticity of digital materials, management of digitization and digital preservation programs, risk management, and disaster recovery.
  • Manage and improve field experience and practicum in applied public history.

                       

Concentration Requirements (18 semester hours):


Elective Requirements (6 or 9 semester hours)

Select from other graduate courses not taken to meet core or concentration requirements. It is recommended that students choose courses from Military Studies, Military History, or History courses to fulfill elective requirements.


Final Program Requirements (0 or 3 semester hours)

Select 1 course from the following:

  • HIST696 - Practicum in Applied History (3 semester hours) - Taken once all other degree requirements have been met. The Practicum Version Option will satisfy 3 semester hours of an elective requirement. Students who select a concentration in Public History are required to take this course as their final program requirement.
  • HIST698 - Separate Comprehensive Examination (0 semester hours) - Taken once all other degree requirements have been met.
  • HIST699 - Master of Arts in History - Thesis (3 semester hours)  - Taken once all other degree requirements have been met. The Thesis will satisfy 3 semester hours of an elective requirement.

Total = 36 semester hours


 

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