History (PhD)

Admission to the graduate program is competitive. Those who meet the stated requirements are not guaranteed admission, nor are those who fail to meet all the stated requirements necessarily precluded from admission if they offer other appropriate strengths. Except in unusual circumstances, admission is offered only for the Fall semester and all decisions for all programs are made by the faculty of the Graduate Studies Committee.

Applicants should have an overall undergraduate index of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale; an undergraduate history average of at least 3.5; and strong letters of recommendation from three people familiar with the applicant's academic potential. In addition, applicants should submit a writing sample of approximately 25 pages demonstrating their ability to do historical research and writing. Applicants who do not have significant undergraduate course work in history are not normally admitted directly to the Ph.D. program. Applicants may, if they choose, submit a Graduate Record Examination (GRE) score with their application.

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy recognizes the candidate’s command of specific fields of history as well as the ability to conceive and execute a Ph.D. dissertation. After completing course work and successfully passing qualifying exams, Ph.D. students work under the supervision of a dissertation director and faculty committee to complete a major research project that produces new historical knowledge or reshapes existing historical understanding.

The Ph.D. track students must fulfill the following requirements:

Professional Development Portfolio:

Every entering Ph.D. student will begin to keep a portfolio of his or her accomplishments in courses, teaching, and professional development during matriculation in the graduate program. The portfolio, which will serve multiple purposes, will include a number of important items (see below) that students will be responsible for compiling, providing students with a tangible vehicle to participate in progressing toward candidacy. The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee reviews the portfolio as part of the post-3rd semester review. The portfolio is used to gage whether a student is prepared well enough to move forward to the Qualifying Exams taken in the fall semester of the 3rd year. In addition, the Graduate Studies Committee may ask for a student’s portfolio when it is considering nominations for awards during the pre-doctoral years, and students may wish to share their portfolio with faculty who are supporting their applications for grants, internships, and jobs. Finally, the portfolio may be an important part of the job interviewing process later in students’ careers.

The portfolio for second year Ph.D. students should include the following organized in a three ring binder:

Table of contents 

• Current C.V. 
• Research and writing seminar papers, including all faculty comments. Students may wish to include additional seminar papers, extended review essays, internship reports, and other significant research done while matriculating in the department. 
• Unofficial transcript of UD coursework 
• Brief letter from the student’s prospective dissertation advisor and as appropriate, a letter from the Hagley, American Civilization, or AAPHI director, certifying that the student has made satisfactory progress and that the faculty member has agreed to direct the primary field of the Ph.D. qualifying exam.  

As the student progresses beyond coursework, the following may be added: 

f. Syllabi of courses designed and taught by the student while matriculating in the History Department. Students may choose to include course evaluations, but these are not required. Syllabi of courses for which the student was a Teaching Assistant should not be included. 
g. Qualifying exam reading lists, exam essays, and faculty comments on essays. 
h. Successful grant and fellowship applications, awards, and prizes won during the period of matriculation. 
i. Publications and manuscripts submitted for review; conference papers 
j. A statement about the student’s dissertation interests and expected next steps towards the prospectus, which should be written in consultation with the student’s advisor

Passage of Qualifying Exams.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

Doctoral education in history aims at training scholars who perform at the highest level, historians whose dissertations contribute significantly to our understanding of the past and whose skills as teachers and public historians engage their audiences. To serve that end, qualifying examinations test four kinds of knowledge: historical content, historiography, method, and theory. Their purpose is to assess each student’s understanding of three fields, framed in conjunction with faculty.  

Qualifying examinations give students the opportunity to demonstrate that they have acquired essential intellectual skills from course work, that they are prepared to begin their dissertations, and that they can meet professional standards. By immersing themselves in exam preparation, students develop expertise and confidence that help them write dissertations and sustain their future careers. ​

Prospectus Defense:

During the spring of their third year, students who have passed their qualifying exams must submit a written dissertation prospectus to their dissertation directors and hold a prospectus defense.

PREPARATION

Preparation for qualifying exams begins when students enter the program; all course work and additional reading provides the groundwork for successful exams. They may supplement regular courses by auditing undergraduate history courses and by taking graduate courses offered in other departments for credit. (Courses from other departments cannot be counted toward the requirement of four reading courses. Students may petition the GSC to make an exception to that rule.) Students should also enhance their knowledge through teaching assistantships at the survey level.  

Full-time students admitted to the Ph.D. program must take qualifying exams during the fall of their third year. To be eligible, they must resolve incompletes and complete language exam(s) by September 1.  

In their second year, students will form their examining committees. It is their responsibility to consult with their advisers during the third semester of coursework and to ask three professors to direct individual fields and serve as an examining committee. At least two committee members will be History Department faculty. A faculty person from History or another department at the University of Delaware may supervise the third field. The student’s adviser will normally serve as coordinator of the exam committee. If the adviser is not part of the examining committee, a coordinator will be chosen by their committee members.   

Each student will have a Primary field and two Secondary fields. Lists for the Primary field will comprise approximately 60-80 books or their equivalent in articles, from the student’s principal area of research. Working in close collaboration with the faculty member, the student will develop a list that prepares him or her to answer broadly historiographical questions about the field and to write a prospectus for a dissertation that will, ultimately, contribute to that field. Lists for Secondary fields will comprise approximately 30-40 books or their equivalent in articles. One secondary field will cover a topic, theme, or period of history related to but distinct from the primary field. The other secondary field will be geographically comparative to the other two fields and/or will be from another discipline (such as Art History or English). These fields provide broad coverage of a topic, may prepare a student to teach courses, and may also contribute to the student’s preparation for the dissertation prospectus.   

Students will submit their proposed fields, and identify the faculty members who have agreed to supervise each field, to the Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator no later than April 15 of their second year (4th semester). The Graduate Studies Committee will meet to review the proposed fields. In particular, the GSC will determine if the fields demonstrate a reasonable breadth of coverage, topically and chronologically. In other words, the GSC will likely not approve three fields that all cover 1918-1939, nor will it approve three fields that are all focused on the American West. Rather, the GSC will encourage breadth whenever possible. 

Examples

Primary Field: American Capitalism, 1812-1973 
Secondary Field A: American Religion in the 20th Century 
Secondary Field B: European Modernisms  

Primary Field: American Slavery 
Secondary Field A: African American History, 1865-1945 
Secondary Field B: Literature of the African Diaspora  

Primary Field: 19th Century American Material Culture 
Secondary Field A: American Consumer Culture, 1870-1970 
Secondary Field B: Art History in the Age of Empire   

Primary Field: Comparative Imperialisms 
Secondary Field A: Europe, 1919-1939 
Secondary Field B: North Africa in the 19th century or The United States, 1919-1939  

Once students have prepared lists, members of the examination committee will help them prepare in each field. The examining committee as a whole shall ensure that the student’s three fields are sufficiently broad, diverse, and distinct. The entire examining committee will also approve all questions for the written exam.

Presentation of Dissertation-Based Research Paper - Dissertation in Progress and Occasional Papers (DIPSOP):

Within one year of passing the qualifying exams, each student will present a research paper, based on his or her dissertation, to a departmental assembly of graduate students and faculty members. Two commentators, one a graduate student and one a faculty member will lead a discussion session of the paper. The faculty commentator should not be the student’s advisor, but may be someone from the dissertation committee.

FORMAT, EVALUATION, AND APPEALS

Doctoral qualifying examinations consist of a take-home written examination followed by an oral examination.   

Written Examination: Guidelines 
The written exam process will begin during the last week of September and consist of two, week-long take-home exams. During Week 1 of the exam process, students will write two essays in response to questions about the Primary field. During Week 2, students will write two essays, one for each of the two Secondary fields. At least one week before the exam process begins, faculty directing a Primary field will submit three to five questions (plus one question that the Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator will hold “in reserve” in the event of a retake), and faculty directing a Secondary field will submit two to four questions (plus one question that the Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator will hold “in reserve” in the event of a retake). The Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator will send students the relevant set(s) of questions by 9:00 AM on the Monday of the exam week, and students will have until 5:00 PM Friday of that week to submit two essays. Each essay will consist of no more than 3,000 words (excluding citations) and should not be substantially shorter. Students must submit exams electronically to their entire committee, as well as to the Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator. Students who need special accommodations may petition the GSC for additional time. 

Examinees may use books, articles, and other resources in writing their essays. Throughout the examination process, they may seek clarification of the questions from the examiners but may not otherwise discuss their essays with anyone. Examinees are responsible for doing their own work in accordance with the code of academic conduct set forth by the University’s Office of Student Conduct.  

Written Examination: Evaluation 
Individual examiners will determine whether the student has demonstrated proficiency in the field. A passing exam should demonstrate competence in history, historiography, and critical historical thinking. Each essay must include a thesis and a cogent analytical framework. 

Members of the exam committee will evaluate the essays in the fields they are directing and assign a grade: high pass, pass, or fail. Each committee member will also read all of the other essays the student has written for his or her other two fields. Committee members will meet to discuss the written exam unless they agree unanimously that no meeting is necessary. Committee members will submit their written reports to the committee chair, the Director of Graduate Studies, and the Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator within one week of the exam’s conclusion. The Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator will send copies of all three reports to the student.

Any student who fails two or more essays will not advance in the program. A student who receives a failing grade on one essay will be allowed to retake that portion of the written exam during the following week. He or she will be given an alternate essay question.

Once a student has passed all four essays (but not later than the end of October), he or she will advance to the oral exam.   

Oral Examination: Guidelines 
The examining committee will administer a two-hour oral examination within two weeks of the written exam (by early November at the latest). The oral exam is both a test of the students’ knowledge and of their ability to think quickly and express ideas coherently. Examinees may be asked to discuss their answers on the written exam, questions posed on the written exam that they did not choose to answer, topics or questions from any of their fields or reading lists, and their dissertation plans.

Oral Examination: Evaluation 
Once a student passes the oral examination by unanimous agreement of committee members, the chair of the committee will report on the results of the exam to the Director of Graduate Studies and petition the GSC for advancement to candidacy. After the oral exams are completed, the GSC will hold a “scrutiny meeting” to determine if the student is qualified to advance to candidacy based on his/her overall performance in the program and prospect for future success. The Graduate Program Academic Support Coordinator will submit the appropriate paperwork to the Office of Graduate and Professional Education for advancement to candidacy after the GSC has held its scrutiny meeting. Once their paperwork is approved the student will then be registered in Doctoral Sustaining until graduation.  
If a student fails the oral exam, he or she may retake it within two weeks, but not later than December 15.  

Appeals 
If a student wishes to contest the examining committee’s judgment, or if a committee member disagrees with the judgment of the rest of the committee, or if the committee as a whole cannot agree about the outcome of an exam, the student may submit a statement of grounds for an appeal to the Graduate Studies Committee. All GSC members will read the exam, the committee members’ comments, and the appellant’s statement. If a majority of the GSC disagrees with the judgment of the examining committee it will constitute a new examining committee, which may or may not include members of the existing examination committee. The student will retake all disputed portions of the exam. ​

Completion of a Ph.D. Dissertation:

The dissertation must make a significant contribution to historical knowledge, uphold professional standards of research and interpretation, and be written in clear, well-organized English prose.

The dissertation is written under the guidance of a dissertation director and three other faculty members who together constitute the student’s dissertation committee.Composition of this committee must be approved by the Graduate Studies Committee; at least one faculty member of the dissertation committee must be from outside the department. The candidate must defend the dissertation before the Dissertation Committee in a forum that is open to the University as a whole. This oral defense, which is chaired by the dissertation director, is concerned with the content, methodology, and significance of the dissertation.

Demonstration of Reading Competence in a Foreign Language:

Entering Ph.D. track students are encouraged to take a language examination as soon as possible and are expected to have met their language requirement before taking the qualifying exams in the fall of their third year. Students may retake a language examination until receiving a passing grade. Foreign language competence will be demonstrated by successfully translating two passages of a foreign language chosen by the student during a scheduled two-hour exam in the history department conference room.

Complete 30 credits of graduate work, of which at least 24 credits must be in history. The history credits must include the following:

• Students in their first semester will take the HIST600 "Approaches to History" course.
• Five reading seminars: With the approval of the Chair of Graduate Studies, a HIST666 component of an undergraduate lecture course may count as a reading seminar. Such approval will be given only when a HIST666 component includes regular "mini-seminar” meetings to discuss graduate level readings.
• Two research seminars
• Transfer Credits: Students may petition the Graduate Studies Committee to accept up to nine credits of course work taken at another institution as long as the credits were not used to complete another degree. If the credits were used to complete another degree then the Department may choose to substitute other courses in place of those accounted for by transfer credits. In the latter case, no credits are transferred, but the requirements are modified so that the student avoids repeating courses they’ve had elsewhere. In neither case will substitution be permitted or credit given for research seminars taken elsewhere.

1. The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee will assign each incoming student a temporary faculty advisor in September. Temporary advisors will be drawn primarily from the members of the Graduate Studies Committee for that year.
   
2. First year students may, at any time, replace their temporary faculty advisor with a permanent faculty advisor. Both the Chair of the GSC and the Academic Support Coordinator of the graduate program should be notified immediately of any such changes.
   
3. Students are required to choose a permanent faculty advisor during their first year. After securing the agreement of a faculty member to serve as their permanent advisor, the student must notify the temporary advisor, the Chair of the GSC, and the Academic Support Coordinator to the graduate program of his or her choice no later than April of that year.
   
4. Faculty advisers, both temporary and permanent, are required to meet with each of their advisees at least twice a year.  It is the advisers' responsibility to assist in planning individual class schedules, to ensure that course selections will fulfill degree requirements, and to ensure that doctoral students are making adequate preparation for primary and secondary field qualifying examinations and the dissertation.
   
5. Permanent faculty advisers are required to review the files of their advisees who have completed their third semester of course work and to present a written report to the GSC on the progress and performance of each of those students. Reports should be submitted to the Academic Support Coordinator of the graduate program by the beginning of the winter term in January.
   
6. The Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee will review the portfolio and academic record of each Ph.D. student after he or she has completed three full semesters (or 21 credits) of graduate study. On the basis of this review, the Chair will inform the student whether he or she is making satisfactory progress.  If either a permanent faculty adviser or the Chair of the GSC should find cause for concern about the performance of any students who have completed three semesters of coursework, the GSC will meet to review the files of those students. The permanent faculty advisers of the students in question will be requested to attend that meeting.
   
7. In early spring, the Graduate Chair will also send a notice to all second year Ph.D. students to remind them that they are required to sit for qualifying exams the following fall. The Graduate Chair will remind students that they must fulfill the language requirement prior to taking the qualifying exams.

Students entering our doctoral program typically receive stipends and full tuition remission for five years while serving as teaching assistants and/or graduate assistants.  Fellowship terms or years are awarded on a competitive basis, though all doctoral students typically receive fellowship support in the summer after their second year and during the semester they take their doctoral qualifying exams.  

Graduate students who have passed their qualifying exams may teach during winter and summer sessions if such opportunities arise.  Doctoral students in sixth or subsequent years are no longer guaranteed stipends, but have opportunities to earn money by teaching introductory courses during fall and spring semesters.

For academic year 2024-25, our standard nine-month doctoral student stipend amount is $30,000.  Some of our students are receiving more as Unidel Fellows or Terrell Scholars.

The History Department also places graduate students in paid Stewart Summer Internships at sites such as the Delaware Historical Society and the Hagley Museum & Library.  In addition, an assortment of summer fellowships are available on a competitive basis.  These include Delaware Public Humanities Institute fellowships, the Caesar Rodney Fellowship (given preferentially to students working on North American colonial history), the Bassett-Ferguson Fellowship (tied to the history of technology), the George Frick Fellowship (for environmental history or pre-Civil War American history), and the Jean Whyte Fellowship (supporting the study of the impact of Judeo-Christian belief or ethics on American history).  

The Department has a highly successful placement record. After completing their degree, students go on to careers in the academy as well as in a diverse range of fields.

Placements of graduates in the last five years include:

• Curator, Forest Hills Educational Trust

• Assistant Professor, Wesley College

• Archives & Digital Initiatives Manager, School of Architecture, Princeton University

• History Teacher, Bryn Mawr School (Baltimore, MD)

• Executive Director, Hanover (MA) Historical Society

• Lecturer, York College (PA)