Main Departmental Office
Wooten Hall, Room 225
Mailing address:
1155 Union Circle #310650
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-565-2288
Fax: 940-369-8838
Web site: www.hist.unt.edu
Graduate Faculty: Calderón, Campbell, Chet, Eaton, Fuhrmann, Golden, Hagler, Hilliard, Leggiere, Lowe, McCaslin, Mierzejewski, Morris, Moye, Navarro, Paz, Pomerleau, Richey, Seligmann, Smith, Stern, Stockdale, Tanner, Turner, Velikanova, Wawro.
The Department of History offers graduate programs leading to the following degrees:
Concentrations are available at the master’s level in United States history and European history (since 1400).
Concentrations are available at the doctoral level in United States history and European history (since 1400).
Course offerings include a wide variety of classes on the history of the United States; ancient, medieval and modern Europe; Latin America; Asia; the Middle East; Africa; modern Russia and Soviet history; women’s and gender history; and other topics. The department has special strengths in Texas history and military history.
The UNT library has a large collection of national newspapers, personal papers and other materials for the American colonial and early national periods, and for the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Also available are microfilm copies of presidential papers and those of other prominent Americans. A large microfilm collection of State Department materials includes diplomatic dispatches to 1906, the decimal file for all major countries, 1910 to 1929, and some of the decimal file beyond 1929. Library holdings include Texas newspapers, county tax rolls and U.S. census records. The library contains a large collection of Civil War soldiers’ records. In addition, researchers have easy access to regional archival depositories, among them the Southwest Branch of the National Archives in Fort Worth.
Other important resources in the collection include German Foreign Ministry documents; British and Foreign State Papers; British Parliamentary Debates; British Cabinet documents; proceedings of the German Bundestag, Bundesrat, and Bundeskabinett; debates of the French National Assembly; 17th-century British pamphlets and letters; and various source materials on medieval history.
Materials related to World War II include a large oral history collection on prisoners of war, Pearl Harbor survivors and Holocaust survivors. Other oral history collections include materials on African Americans in Texas and on Texas political and business leaders.
The UNT library has been a U.S. government depository since 1948. The library also has many back issues of U.S. government documents. The Department of History also houses its own extensive collection of books and films, the Kingsbury-Thomason Library.
The research interests of the history faculty cover a broad range of United States, European, Latin American, African and Asian topics. Additional interests include military history, women’s history, Great Britain, early modern and modern France, and the Italian Renaissance. History faculty members have published numerous books on such topics as Texas history, the U.S. South, the Civil War, Native Americans, 20th-century United States, oral history, World War II, England, France, Italy, Germany, and the history of science.
The Department of History is home to the Center for the Study of Military History, which houses the editorial office of the journal Military History of the West. The center also coordinates activities and events at North Texas related to the study of military history, including the annual Military History Seminar. For more information, please contact the Director of the Center for the Study of Military History at 940-565-2288. The Department of History is also the home of the Major General Olinto Mark Barsanti Chair in Military History, currently held by Professor Geoffrey Wawro.
1. All general admission requirements of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies, as outlined elsewhere in this bulletin, must be fulfilled.
2. MA/MS degree: The Department of History employs a holistic review process. Applicants are evaluated on their entire academic history. However, it is recommended that the applicant score at the 50th percentile or higher on the verbal portion of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and score either (1) at the 40th percentile or higher on either the quantitative or (2) a 4 or higher (on a scale of 1 to 6) on the analytical writing portion, have a bachelor’s degree and 24 hours of history credits from an accredited college or university, have a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a four-point scale for all undergraduate work or for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work, submit a statement of purpose and interests, provide two letters of recommendation, and have met all other university requirements.
3. PhD degree: Applicants are evaluated on their entire academic history; however, it is recommended that applicants score at the 70th percentile or higher on the verbal portion of the GRE and score either (1) at the 40th percentile or higher on either the quantitative portion or (2) a 4 or higher (on a scale of 1 to 6) on the analytical writing portion of the GRE, submit a statement of his or her purpose in seeking the doctorate in history, submit a formal paper (other than the thesis) from his or her master’s work, provide three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant’s post-secondary academic record, have a master’s degree with a thesis, or complete a project in lieu of thesis, and have met all other university requirements. No more than 12 hours accumulated above the requirements for the MA and MS programs may be transferred into the doctoral program.
1. MA students: To enroll for a seventh course, a master’s degree student must have earned a GPA in history courses of 3.25, and the student must maintain that average, exclusive of I and PR grades, each term/semester until the degree is awarded. If the student fails to maintain the minimum required average, he or she will be dismissed from the degree program.
2. PhD students:
a. To enroll for a seventh course, a doctoral degree student must have earned a GPA in history courses of 3.5, and the student must maintain that average, exclusive of I and PR grades, each term/semester until the degree is awarded. If the student fails to maintain the minimum required average, he or she will be dismissed from the degree program.
b. The student must also fulfill the residence requirement outlined in the Doctoral Degree Requirements section in this catalog.
c. To remain in the doctoral program, the student must satisfy existing university regulations concerning completion of the doctoral dissertation.
Note: students earning a master’s degree in the UNT history department must follow the thesis option to qualify for admission in the department’s doctoral program or complete a project in lieu of thesis.
1. A graduate major in history consists of 25 hours of graduate work in history (including 1 hour of historical bibliography and at least two research seminars) and a 6-hour thesis. The 25 classroom hours may be selected from any courses offered by the department; the 6-hour thesis may be written on any topic approved by the student’s advisory committee.
2. The student may substitute 6 hours in a related field approved by the chair of his or her committee for 6 hours of graduate course work in history.
3. A candidate for this degree must successfully complete an oral examination on the course work and the thesis.
The non-thesis option is regarded as a terminal degree by the UNT history department.
1. A student selecting this option must take any two research seminars in history and 1 hour of historical bibliography. The remaining 24 hours may be all in history or may include a minor up to 6 hours in a related field approved by the department chair.
2. A candidate for this degree must successfully complete an oral examination on the course work.
The Doctor of Philosophy with a major in history is offered in two fields: United States and Europe. All students pursuing the PhD in history will be examined for four areas of history, at least two of which must be within their primary concentration, United States or Europe. Students pursuing the PhD in United States history will be examined in at least one non-United-States area; students pursuing the PhD in European history will be examined in at least one non-European area. The areas in history must be chosen from a list provided by the department. The student must have a minimum of 36 classroom hours of graduate courses plus research and dissertation hours. A minimum of four research seminar courses in history and 3 hours in historiography are required. If an area outside history would enhance the student’s program or career plans, the student’s committee may allow the outside area with the permission of the department chair. Completion of a specific number of graduate hours does not automatically make one eligible for a degree. The student must show proficiency by satisfactory performance on written and oral examinations, by completion of the language requirement and by completion of an acceptable dissertation. Any student who fails to register for two consecutive long terms/semesters in classes at UNT will be required to reapply for admission to the history doctoral program.
The program and degree plan of each doctoral student will be planned by the student and his or her advisory committee. The student will initiate a request to establish an advisory committee through the office of the graduate advisor who, in consultation with the student and with the approval of the department chair, will select a major professor from the approved list. The person appointed will serve as chair of the student’s committee. The major professor, in consultation with the student, will select other members of the committee. The student’s degree plan and the composition of the advisory committee must be certified by the graduate advisor and approved by the chair of the department and the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies.
The committee will advise the student on program planning, arrange for all departmental examinations, approve in conjunction with the student the dissertation topic and judge the completed dissertation as a piece of original research justifying the awarding of the degree.
Doctoral committees in the Department of History must include a university graduate faculty member who is either Category I, II or III and whose principal faculty appointment is in a department other than the history department. The student’s major professor and the student will work together to select a university member whose expertise will contribute meaningfully to the dissertation.
The student must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one foreign language. The language requirement must be completed prior to taking the qualifying examinations.
The qualifying examinations will be taken when course work, other than research and dissertation, has been completed. These examinations, arranged by the advisory committee, will consist of written examinations and oral examinations covering four areas. The successful completion of these examinations is a prerequisite to admission to candidacy for the degree.
Admission to candidacy is granted by the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies upon recommendation of the advisory committee and the department chair, based upon the academic record of the student, approval of a dissertation topic and successful completion of language requirements and qualifying examinations.
The doctoral student will submit a dissertation that is a significant contribution to the knowledge of history. Completion of the dissertation requires original and independent research in the field of specialization. The final oral examination will be primarily a defense of the completed dissertation.
The Department of History awards several scholarships for graduate students. Eligibility requirements vary from one grant to another, and amounts vary from year to year. Graduate students may also apply for various types of work within the department: for example, teaching assistantships, teaching fellowships, research assistantships and positions in the department’s History Help Center and in the department’s own Kingsbury-Thomason Library. Applications for all financial aid administered by the department are available from the main office of the department (Wooten Hall, Room 225, 940-565-2288). Application deadline is March 1 of each year.
All Courses of Instruction are located in one section at the back of this catalog.
The “Course and Subject Guide,” found in the Courses of Instruction section of this book, serves as a table of contents and provides quick access to subject areas and prefixes.
Date of initial release: July 1, 2009 — Copyright © 2008 University of North Texas
Page updated:
February 23, 2010
— Comments or corrections: catalog@unt.edu
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