• PhD Degree Requirements
• Curriculum

The PhD program in History is distinguished by its relatively compact size, admitting 15 to 20 students each year. This highly selective program allows close faculty-student interaction and small seminars and permits exacting criticism of sources, research procedures, and writing skills.

The program seeks to prepare students for distinguished careers as teachers and scholars. It is therefore designed to help students achieve a comprehensive grasp of particular historical fields and processes; to develop critical skills in respect to sources, texts, genres, theory, and methods of inquiry; and to carry out original research that makes a significant contribution to historical study. Students become acquainted with major trends in the discipline and with the possible relevance to historical scholarship of both classical social theory and current work in other social-scientific and humanistic disciplines. The program thus encourages students to acquire a frame of reference for their research based on grounding in geographical and cross-disciplinary fields outside their specializations.

Flexibility in each student's course of study is based on a design that revolves around three chosen fields: a general field, minor field, and specialization field. The general field is the general area of research training, such as United States history. The specialization field is the area of study within the general field in which the student expects to write a dissertation. The minor field is an area of study in which the student wishes to acquire teaching competence or in which the student has a methodological or topical interest. The minor field is concerned with a geographical or conceptual area completely different from the student's general field, unless it is a comparative field.

Students in this program are also encouraged to participate in TGS’s Interdisciplinary Initiative program. For more information on how you can have a second intellectual “home” outside of your department or program please visit the Interdisciplinary Initiative page.

Applicants should contact the program or see Web site www.history.northwestern.edu to learn about program-specific requirements for admission.

Faculty

The primary appointment for those faculty with joint or affiliate status in another program is noted in parentheses.