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History is studied to enhance the quality of life for the
individual. Without any knowledge of the past, the individual
becomes a prisoner of the present--able neither to comprehend
the present circumstances and their causes nor to deal intelligently
with present problems. As a liberal discipline, history
aims to permit students to transcend their own cultural
limits and, by the study of other societies in other ages,
to open their eyes to the diversity of the human environment.
It has often been noted that history is the first truly
"interdisciplinary" discipline. This is true because
everything, no matter how specialized, has a history, and
therefore everything is a proper subject of study for the
historian. In this department, for instance, the course
offerings range not only from the ancient world to modern
times, but also from the history of philosophy and ideas
to the history of science, from governmental elites to popular
culture.
The department offers the M.A. and the Ph.D. in history
within two parallel curricula. One, traditional in nature,
prepares students primarily, though not exclusively, for
teaching careers in higher and secondary education. The
second, pioneered at UC Santa Barbara, is a graduate program
in public historical studies, which aims at training historians
for careers not in teaching, but in the community at large,
primarily as researchers and writers.
While personal enrichment is the prime reason that students
choose history as a field of study, the nature of the discipline
makes it highly desirable as a training ground for many
professional fields. The traditional career for the history
major has been in teaching, but the breadth of knowledge
acquired by studying history is an advantage to those intending
a career in business and government service. The stress
on the development of research skills, as well as on the
ability to think and write clearly, has proven to be excellent
preparation for law school and for a wide variety of research
and writing jobs
The following information supplements the UCSB General
Catalog, which may be purchased from the UCSB Bookstore,
accessed on the web at http://www.catalog.ucsb.edu/ or
read
on microfiche in most university libraries.
Graduate Program
In addition to departmental requirements, candidates for
graduate degrees must fulfill the university degree requirements
found in the General Catalog listed under the heading "Graduate
Education at UCSB."
Graduate Admissions
The department does not admit students solely for the purpose
of obtaining a master's degree. All applicants are admitted
to a single M.A./Ph.D. program. The M.A. degree in history
is looked upon as a valuable stage on the path to the doctorate.
Although it is understood that some students may choose
not to continue beyond the M.A., and that others may not
be permitted to do so, the aim of the program is to provide
students with research training leading to the doctoral
degree.
Applicants to the graduate program in history are expected
to show high potential for engaging in advanced historical
research and analysis. Applicants must meet general university
requirements for admission to graduate standing and must
have completed an undergraduate major in history or its
equivalent. Applicants may be admitted with deficiencies,
but those deficiencies must be made up in the first year
and do not count in satisfaction of graduate degree unit
or course requirements.
Applicants must submit a suitable sample of historical
writing, such as a term paper or equivalent, and three letters
of recommendation. These should address the applicant's
academic qualifications for graduate work in history. In
addition, applicants ordinarily are expected to have a minimum
grade-point average of 3.5 in upper-division history courses
(or 3.75 in master's courses), and minimum scores on the
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) of 85th percentile in
verbal and 70th percentile in analytical.
It should be stressed that admission to the program is
competitive, and satisfying these minimum requirements does
not, by itself, guarantee admission. At the same time, the
decision to admit is based on consideration of the entire
file, and promising applicants in unusual circumstances
whose records fall below the minimum should not be discouraged
from applying.
Applicants must be accepted by a major professor with whom
they wish to work. Applicants unsure of how to choose a
major professor should inquire by letter or telephone to
the graduate program assistant, Department of History, as
to how to proceed. No student will be admitted without a
faculty sponsor.
Master of Arts -- History
Degree Requirements
The M.A. degree will be awarded to students who satisfy
the requirements prescribed by the Graduate Council and
who, in addition, meet the following requirements:
Foreign language. The student must pass a written translation
examination in at least one foreign language within one
calendar year of taking the comprehensive examination. Students
are encouraged to satisfy this requirement as soon as possible.
Unit requirements. The student must pass a minimum of 36
units of upper-division and graduate history courses. No
course will count for the degree if the grade is less than
3.0. At least 24 of these units must be in graduate courses
numbered between 200 and 292, with 4 units of History 202
(required of all students who have not had a graduate course
in historiography) and at least 8 units in research seminars,
which will result in the preparation of original research
papers. Papers produced in these seminars lay the foundation
for doctoral work and are taken into account along with
the results of the comprehensive examinations in evaluating
students for admission to the Ph.D. program. History 596
does not apply to the research seminar unit requirement,
but 8 units will apply toward the 36-unit requirement. Most
research seminars last two quarters. Check with the graduate
program assistant for credited seminars.
Comprehensive examinations. The student must pass one three-hour
written examination in any of the graduate fields listed
below. The department offers reading courses in many of
these fields to help students prepare for these examinations.
History 200 courses are designed to cover large, general
fields; History 201 courses cover more specialized fields.
- United States*
- Colonial Latin America
- National Latin America
- East Asia to 1600
- East Asia after 1600
- Africa
- History of Science
- Early Modern Europe (1450-1815)
- Modern Europe (1789- )
- Medieval Europe
- Middle East (600-1700)
- Middle East (1700- )
- Ancient Mediterranean World
- History of Public Policy
- *An Afro-American, Chicano, or American Indian emphasis
is acceptable in this field.
Doctor of Philosophy-History
Admission
The M.A. degree in history or a cognate field is normally
required for admission into the Ph.D. program. Applicants
who do not meet this requirement must complete the M.A.
in history before continuing to the Ph.D. The application
deadline for those applying with an M.A. degree from another
institution is December 15. Students taking the master's
examination at UC Santa Barbara must achieve an average
grade of A- or higher. In addition, the candidate must acquire
a minimum of three satisfactory recommendations from professors
within the department, including at least two from professors
who have supervised or reviewed the candidate's graduate
seminar research papers. One of the letters must be from
the student's mentor.
The General Fields of History
The Department of History at UCSB offers doctoral study
in eleven general fields of history:
- United States
- Latin America
- East Asia
- Africa
- The Middle East
- History of Science
- Ancient Mediterranean World
- Medieval Europe
- Early Modern Europe (1450-1815)
- Modern Europe (1789- )
- History of Public Policy
- *Comparative Gender
- *World History
*Offered only as a third field, and not as a possible
first or second field. Please refer to "Degree Requirements:
General Examinations" for further description of field
three, the outside field in history.
Students will study, and in due time present themselves
for examination, in four examination fields, two of them
chosen from one of the above general fields, and the third
chosen from a second general field. The fourth examination
field will be either a fourth field of history outside
the
geographical/cultural field of the other two fields, or
in an outside academic department (see below, under "General
Examinations"). The four professors under whom the
students study as they prepare for their examinations constitute
their doctoral committee. One of its members is the student's
major professor, who presides.
Program Supervision
Once admitted to the Ph.D. level, each student will be
systematically advised by his or her major professor, who
will submit a review of the student's progress and prospects
annually in the spring quarter. The results of the annual
review will be individually communicated to the student
by his or her mentor or by the director of graduate studies.
If the student's progress is unsatisfactory, the student
will be notified in this letter that he or she is being
placed on a one-year probationary status. If at the end
of that year progress is still unsatisfactory, the department
chair will recommend to the dean of the Graduate Division
that the student be dismissed from graduate study.
Degree Requirements
Unit requirements. Students in the doctoral program must
enroll for at least six regular academic quarters (not summer
sessions) on the UCSB campus pursuing a program of full-time
study and research. Three consecutive quarters of this residency
must be completed in regular session before advancement
to candidacy. Students must complete 24 units of history
research seminars, 8 units of which can be taken from the
M.A. requirements. Check with the graduate program assistant
for credited seminars. History 596 does not count as a research
seminar. Students must take at least one graduate course
in each of the four areas presented for examination (research
seminars and courses taken while in the M.A. program satisfy
this requirement), and a graduate course in historiography
(History 202) if such a course has not been taken prior
to admission to the doctoral program. Doctoral students
in American history must take History 292A-B-C, in addition
to the 24 units of research seminars.
Foreign language. The student must pass at least one foreign
language examination, a requirement which may be satisfied
by passing the foreign language examination for the UC Santa
Barbara M.A. in history, or, with the approval of the graduate
committee, an examination at another institution. Additional
language requirements pertinent to the field of research
may be specified by the major professor with the approval
of the graduate committee. Preparation and supervision of
these additional language examinations are the responsibility
of the major professor, who may or may not use the regular
departmental foreign language examinations.
Students should plan to satisfy the departmental foreign
language requirement as soon as possible, but in no case
later than the end of the second year in the doctoral program.
No student will be allowed to take the general examinations
for the Ph.D. without having completed the departmental
language requirement, as well as any additional language
requirements required by the major professor.
General examinations. Upon satisfying the unit and foreign
language requirements, students will be eligible to take
their general examinations. Candidates are required to present
themselves for examination in four fields of study--three
within the department and a fourth which may be either a
cognate field outside the department or a fourth history
field. Examinations in the three history fields will be
both written and oral; the examination in the cognate field,
or fourth history field, will only be oral. The four fields
are:
1. The major field, taken under the student's major professor.
It will be in that professor's special field, or, with the
approval of the graduate committee, in a closely related
field. The major field ordinarily provides the intellectual
basis for the dissertation and the student's later emphasis
in teaching and research. The student is expected to achieve
depth and breadth of scholarly sophistication and mastery
in this field.
2. The general field is the field within which the student's
major field is located (e.g., U.S. history is the general
field if the major field is U.S. diplomatic history). The
student is expected to show breadth and perspective in this
field in order to set his or her specialty within its encompassing
framework and to be able to teach survey courses.
3. The outside field in history, chosen from a second of
the department's graduate fields (see above). This field
may be either specialized (as in 1 above) or general (as
in 2), depending on the mutual decision of the student,
the major professor, and the supervisor of the outside field.
This requirement affords the student, for comparative purposes,
a deep encounter with the history of a period or culture
distinct from that studied in Fields 1 and 2 and also to
enable him or her to offer survey courses in this field.
4A. A cognate field outside the discipline of history is
chosen from within another academic department. This field
should strengthen the student's grasp of Field l and be
comparable in depth and richness to Fields 2 and 3.
4B. With the approval of the major professor and the director
of graduate studies, students may substitute for the cognate
field a fourth history field which is outside the geographical/cultural
areas of the three other history fields.. For European and
U.S. historians, the field should be non-European and non-U.S.
history, respectively. Examples are Africa, Middle East,
East Asia, and Latin America. Alternatively, special topics
may be chosen, such as environmental history, women's history,
native American history, military history, and religious
history. These too should have some component outside the
geographical/cultural area of the other history fields The
department has added this option to maximize students' opportunities
on the job market, where many institutions seek candidates
who can teach non-Western or world history, or both.
Doctoral students should select their four fields in consultation
with their major professor during their first quarter of
study.
The three written examinations in history must all be completed
within a period of one month from the date of the first
examination. Each of these examinations will be of three
hours' duration. Within one week of passing the last of
these examinations, the student must take an oral examination
in all four fields. The minimum time allotted to this examination
is two hours, but the time period may be extended as warranted
by the four examiners.
The doctoral dissertation. The doctoral dissertation must
be an original work of historical research in the field
of the candidate's specialization. It must be in clear prose,
have intellectual depth, and demonstrate a mastery of historical
methodology. A dissertation prospectus must be prepared
by the student and be approved by the major professor and
the examination committee, which will serve as the dissertation
committee. When the dissertation is written and approved,
the candidate may be asked to appear for an oral examination
in the field of the dissertation.
Teaching assistantship. A candidate will be required to
qualify for and hold a teaching assistantship or a research
assistantship for at least one quarter as part of the preparation
for the Ph.D. degree. Teaching Assistantships are competitive
awards with far many more applicants than there are positions.
A TAship, thus, is never guaranteed--it is not an entitlement--although
most graduate students hold one for at least two years.
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