Master of Arts in History
Our terminal Master of Arts degree provides students with rigorous training in the skills of historical thinking, archival research, and the different modes of expression scholars use to communicate their findings to a wide audience. Completely integrated with our Ph.D. program, the M.A. in History at KU offers students the opportunity to develop subject expertise in fields of study, learn the conventions of professional scholarship in History, collaborate with other students, and receive one-on-one career advice and intellectual mentorship from our faculty.
Our M.A. program allows for full-time or part-time study. Students also have the opportunity to take coursework outside the department in fields such as African and African-American Studies, Environmental Studies, Museum Studies, and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies.
Students in our terminal M.A. program are self-funded, and are encouraged to inquire regarding current information for in-state/out-of-state/international tuition costs and university fees.
Admission to Graduate Studies
Admission Requirements
- All applicants must meet the requirements outlined in the Admission to Graduate Study policy.
- Bachelor’s degree: A copy of official transcripts showing proof of a bachelor's degree (and any post-bachelor’s coursework or degrees) from a regionally accredited institution, or a foreign university with equivalent bachelor's degree requirements is required.
- English proficiency: Proof of English proficiency for non-native or non-native-like English speakers is required. There are two bands of English proficiency, including Admission and Full proficiency. For applicants to online programs, Full proficiency is required.
Graduate Admission
In History at KU, we privilege high-quality graduate advising and mentorship at every stage of a student’s interaction with our department. As such, our application processes for the M.A. and M.A./Ph.D. are geared towards ensuring the best possible fit between faculty and graduate students. Graduate applicants who seek to study at the University of Kansas are required to correspond with at least one prospective faculty advisor well in advance of the application deadline. On the most basic level, these preliminary contacts with faculty give applicants a sense of whether or not the prospective advisor is currently taking new students. More than this, these conversations offer candidates for admission a better sense of how they might fit into the program at KU. Our admissions process is designed to educate prospective students about what studying at KU would really be like and about the resources the Department and University possess in their areas of interest, as well as offering an opportunity to get to know some of the people they’d be working with during their time here. Moreover, the early establishment of a relationship between prospective faculty and applicant permits students to refine their applications to better articulate the candidate’s fit with our program. The prospective faculty advisor will be able to more effectively advocate for the applicant’s candidacy based upon this correspondence.
Once candidates for admission have established correspondence with at least one prospective advisor, they must complete the online application through the KU Office of Graduate Admissions.
- Statement of Academic Objectives, including a clear plan for graduate research in a specific field of study. This statement should articulate your preparation for graduate studies and should achieve the following objectives:
- Suggest a potential direction for your research at KU as concretely as possible;
- Identify specific chronological, geographical, and thematic areas of interest and identify faculty with whom you wish to work;
- Discuss previous educational and personal experiences that have shaped your research interests;
- Outline how you see an M.A. in History fitting into your broad career goals.
- The University of Kansas Department of History seeks to build a student body reflective of our community, our nation, and the world. In your statement you may share life experiences or personal characteristics that are concretely tied to your research interests, preparations for graduate study, or career goals.
- Curriculum Vitae
- Writing Sample (maximum twenty-five pages, double-spaced)
- The Department is interested in reviewing the best-crafted, most persuasively argued writing sample that applicants are able to provide. Such papers are often derived from an upper-level undergraduate history class in which the student conducted independent research and employed both primary and secondary sources.
- Official Transcript from each institution that has granted you a degree, or at which you are currently enrolled
- Three letters of recommendation
Please note that documents, including a writing sample and transcripts, should be uploaded to the application. Applicants should not send hard copies of application materials to the Department of History. When you submit your online application, it is made available to the Department of History for review, yet it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure the Office of Graduate Studies has received all materials by the deadline.
M.A. in History Degree Requirements
The Master of Arts in History requires a total of 30 hours and a final M.A. Oral Examination. Students must complete a minimum of 18 credit hours in courses numbered 700 or higher.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| HIST 802 | Seminar in: _____ (Taken twice for a total of 6 hours) | 6 |
| HIST 805 | The Nature of History | 3 |
| 15 hours of History electives | 15 | |
| 6 hours of elective coursework in History or related department | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 30 | |
Research Language Requirement
If a non-English research language is required, the faculty advisor will designate the primary research language. Students must demonstrate proficiency in the primary research language by the end of their first year in the program. (See the Graduate Handbook for certification requirements) If English is sufficient as the primary research language, there is no additional research language requirement for M.A. students.
M.A. Examination
Oral presentation and defense of the papers prepared in the two research seminars to a faculty committee. All master’s candidates must produce 2 professional-quality, article-length papers (7500-10000 words) in the 2 required HIST 802 seminars. The committee must meet the requirements outlined in the Office of Graduate Studies' Master's Student Oral Exam Committee Composition policy.
See the Graduate Handbook for additional details of the M.A. Examination process.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Elective Options | ||
| HIST 705 | Globalization in History | 3 |
| HIST 720 | The Modern Museum: Institutions, Knowledge and Audiences | 3 |
| HIST 721 | Museum Education and Public Engagement | 3 |
| HIST 722 | Preventive Conservation in Museums | 3 |
| HIST 723 | Introduction to Museum Exhibits | 3 |
| HIST 725 | Introduction to Collections Management and Utilization | 3 |
| HIST 727 | Archival Theory and Practice | 3 |
| HIST 728 | Managing Museums | 3 |
| HIST 800 | Readings in: _____ | 1-8 |
| HIST 801 | Colloquium in: _____ | 1-6 |
| HIST 806 | Studies in: _____ | 3 |
| HIST 810 | Colloquium in Nationalism Studies | 3 |
| HIST 811 | Colloquium in Comparative Empires | 3 |
| HIST 862 | Indigenous Archives and Tribal Historic Preservation | 3 |
| HIST 878 | Colloquium in Global Environmental History | 3 |
| HIST 879 | Colloquium in North American Environmental History | 3 |
| HIST 881 | Slavery in the Atlantic World | 3 |
| HIST 883 | Ethnohistory of the Americas | 3 |
| HIST 891 | Colloquium in 19th Century U.S. History | 3 |
| HIST 892 | Colloquium in 20th Century U.S. History | 3 |
| HIST 893 | Colloquium in Military, War, and Society | 3 |
| HIST 895 | Colloquium in the History of Gender | 3 |
| HIST 896 | Colloquium in United States Women's History | 3 |
| HIST 982 | Colloquium in the History of the American West | 3 |
At the completion of this program, students will be able to:
- Formulate a distinctive insight into a historical question and demonstrate analytical rigor in discovering and interpreting data to answer that question.
- Effectively compose and communicate historical, evidence-based arguments in written and oral form to varied audiences.
- Mobilize qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies to access and evaluate historical sources to identify patterns, formulate and support interpretations.
- Recognize, analyze, and contextualize the diversity of human experiences and perspectives across time and space.
- Maintain the highest standards of intellectual integrity in our discipline.