History, M.A.

Graduate Coordinator: Dr. W. Taylor Fain

The Department of History offers a program of study leading to the Master of Arts degree in history. Specific goals of the program are: (1) to provide advanced research and educational opportunities in the study of history; (2) to prepare historians by training them in the latest research techniques, providing them with a knowledge of the most current research on historical problems; and (3) to direct students in historical research using historical documents and archives.

Admission Requirements

Applicants are required to submit the following to the Graduate School:
An application for graduate admission.
Official transcripts of all college work (undergraduate and graduate).
Official scores on the Graduate Record Examination.
Three recommendations by individuals in professionally relevant fields; at least two must be from academics.
Research paper or suitable equivalent.
Essay uploaded directly into application.
Application and supplemental documents must be submitted by the published deadline.

The minimum requirements for admission to the graduate program in history include: satisfactory scores on the Graduate Record Examination (verbal, quantitative and analytical), a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university or its equivalent in a foreign institution, and an overall academic record with a “B” average or better in the basic courses prerequisite to the area of proposed graduate study. Applications for non-degree status will not be accepted.

Degree Requirements (30 total hours)

Thesis Option

The program requires a minimum of 30 semester hours of graduate study, 24 of which must be in history. A maximum of six semester hours of credit may be transferred from another regionally accredited institution. Grades on transfer work must be equivalent to “B” or better. At least 24 hours of graduate study must be completed in residence.
All students must complete a minimum of 24 semester hours of course work. Students in US., European and global must complete, in addition, six hours of thesis; public history students three hours of internship and three hours of thesis. At least 18 hours of course work must be completed in courses open only to graduate students; for public history students at least 15 hours. Cross listed courses will have additional requirements and different grading for graduate students
Students must complete HST 500 , 12 hours in the area of concentration and nine hours of electives. Six hours beyond HST 500 must be in graduate-level seminars. One graduate seminar must be in the area of concentration. No more than six hours of HST 591 may be counted toward the degree.
Each student must successfully complete a written comprehensive examination that will be administered no earlier than during the final semester of enrollment in course work, and no later than the semester following the completion of course work.
Each student in the U.S., European and Global areas will complete six hours of Thesis (HST 599 ), and defend the thesis to the satisfaction of the thesis committee, prior to graduation. Each student in public history will complete three hours of Internship in Public History (HST 598 ) and three hours (or more) of Thesis (HST 599 ) and present either a disciplinary content thesis, an original contribution to the literature of public history, or a work of interpretive scholarship acceptable to the thesis committee prior to graduation.
Students must pass a competency examination demonstrating satisfactory reading knowledge of a foreign language.
The program shall be completed within five years of the date of first registration for graduate study.

Online Non-Thesis Option for Educators

The Department of History at UNCW offers a unique online MA for educators. The specific goals of the program are: (1) to provide advanced opportunities for the study of history; (2) to prepare historical educators by providing them with knowledge of the most current research practices and questions in relation to historical problems; (3) to develop the professional practices of history educators to reflect deep understandings of content.

1. The program requires 30 hours of graduate study. 24 of those hours will consist of online reading and discussion courses, taught during the fall and spring semesters. Students will take two eight-week courses per semester HST 520 (3 credit hours), HST 540 (3 credit hours), HST 560 (3 credit hours), and HST 590 (3 credit hours), (each course must be taken twice for a total of 24 credit hours). The courses will cover United States, European, Global and systems-based histories.

2. Six hours will result from two institutes held during two consecutive summers HST 591 (must be taken twice for a total of six credit hours). The first summer institute (held during UNCW Summer Session II) will focus on a local topic and will provide students with information and teaching materials for integrating local history into their classrooms. Students will create a three-session lesson plan oriented around a local site visit, and present one of those lessons to faculty and peers Students will also produce an essay on the integration of local or regional history into the classroom experience. During the second institute, students will write a comprehensive historiographical essay and take a comprehensive exam.

3. Reading and discussion courses will cover American, European, Global and “systems-based” histories (such as Atlantic World, economic history, and modern imperialism and colonialism). Emphasis will be placed on content, historiographical context and current research questions in these fields.

4. Students will take comprehensive exams of materials covered in the online courses. Those exams will take place at the beginning of the second summer institute, following a week-long review of materials with faculty.