School of Liberal Arts

Departmental E-mail: history@iu.edu

Departmental URL: liberalarts.indianapolis.iu.edu/departments/history

(Please note that when conferring University Graduate School degrees, minors, certificates, and sub-plans, the University Graduate School’s staff use only those requirements contained in The University Graduate School Bulletin.)

Curriculum

Curriculum
Courses
Faculty

Degrees Offered

Master of Arts in History, Dual Master of Arts in History and Master of Library Science, Dual Master of Arts in History and Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies, as well as a Ph.D. minor

The M.A. program in History on the Indianapolis campus offers three areas of concentration: United States history, European history, and public history. United States and European history are traditional areas of concentration and will serve the needs of persons intending to pursue a doctoral program, those seeking a collateral degree to complement other fields such as education or library science, and individuals seeking personal fulfillment. Public history is designed to prepare persons inter­ested in pursuing careers as historians in such settings as histor­ical societies, museums, historic preservation organizations, historic parks, governmental agencies, and business corpora­tions. With its proximity to a large number of such institutions, the Indianapolis campus is an ideal location at which to pursue a degree in public history.

Special Departmental Requirements

(See also general University Graduate School requirements.)

Master of Arts Degree

Admission Requirements

1. Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university, with an overall undergraduate grade point average of at least 3.0 (B) and a minimum grade point average of 3.3 (B+) in the student’s undergraduate major; an undergraduate major in history is not required, but applicants without such a background may be required to take additional coursework in history at the undergraduate level as a condition for acceptance into the program;
2. Appropriate level of achievement on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) General Test (applicants with a post-graduate degree should consult with the Director of Graduate Studies to determine whether they are required to submit GRE scores); and
3. Three letters of recommendation.

Foreign Language

There is no foreign language requirement for the degree per se. However, those students who will incorporate foreign language documents in their graduate work (especially those concentrat­ing on European history) will be expected to translate non-English sources. They must therefore demonstrate an appropriate level of competence in the relevant language before they begin work on their thesis. The Director of Graduate Studies and the student’s thesis advisor may require the student to take additional coursework.

All students concentrating in European history should expect to demonstrate competence in a foreign language, ideally upon application to the program. (Competence is defined as two years of undergraduate coursework with a grade of B or better in the final semester, or demonstration of an equivalent read­ing proficiency in an approved foreign language exam.). Stu­dents considering the possibility of going on for a Ph.D. should recognize that competence in at least one and sometimes two foreign languages is often a requirement in history doctoral programs.

Grades

No grade below B– (2.7) in graduate courses will be counted toward this degree.

Course Requirements

Students pursuing any one of the three concentration areas must take HIST-H 501. With the consent of the Director of Graduate Studies, students may take as many as six (6) credits of electives outside the Department of History.

Those electing United States history must take at least one graduate colloquium and one graduate seminar in United States history and at least one graduate course in non-United States history. Students electing European history must take a graduate colloquium and seminar in that area and at least one graduate history course outside European history. Six (6) credits of H 898 will be grant­ed upon successful completion of the required master’s thesis. A total of 30 credit hours is required for students concentrating in United States or in European history. With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, HIST-H 500 (when offered) may be substituted for HIST-H 501.

Students choosing public history as their area of concentration must take (1) HIST-H 542, (2) a colloquium, (3) a seminar, and (4) enroll in HIST-H 543 and do an internship. Four (4) credits will be granted upon satisfactory completion of the internship project. Public history students must also take at least one graduate course outside their area of regional concentration. Two (2) credits of H 898 will be granted upon successful completion of the required master’s thesis. A minimum of 36 credit hours is required for students concentrating in public history.

Students admitted to the program after completing courses “graduate non-degree” will be allowed, at the discretion of the Director of Graduate Studies, to transfer up to three (3) graduate-level courses (9-12 credit hours) toward their degree requirements. 

With the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies, it may be possible to transfer up to eight (8) graduate credits from another university.

Indiana University’s Graduate School limits the total number of credits that can be taken outside the History master’s program to 12 credits. 

A grade of B (3.0) or higher must have been earned in any course for which a transfer of credit is being requested.

Dual Degree: Master of Arts in History and a Master of Library Science

Admission requirements for the dual degree program are identical to those for each program separately. A separate ap­plication must be made to each of the programs. Prospective students are expected to take responsibility for learning about and meeting the different admission requirements and dead­lines of each department. A student enrolled in one program may apply for admission to the other program; Indiana University Graduate School policy requires that a student apply for the dual degree option within the first year of enrollment. The M.L.S. degree is awarded only in May, June, August, and December; the History M.A. must be awarded at the same time as the M.L.S. 

Study for these two degrees can be combined for a total of 53 credit hours rather than the 66 credit hours required for the two degrees if taken separately. Students take 23 credit hours in history, which must include Archives & Records Management (3 cr.) (taken as HIST-H 547), one graduate colloquium, and one graduate seminar. No thesis is required for students earning an M.A. degree in history who are also earning a Master of Library Science (M.L.S.) under this dual degree program. No area of concentration is required, but students wishing to focus on public history for the M.A. in history must also include HIST-H 542 among the required 23 credits of graduate history coursework. Such students may, if they wish, do a public history internship and count a maximum of two (2) credit hours of HIST-H 543 toward the degree. Students may enroll in HIST-H 543 only after having taken (or while taking) HIST-H 542.

The remaining 30 credit hours are taken in the Department of Library and Information Science (IU Indianapolis).

Dual Degree: Master of Arts in History and Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies

The dual M.A. in History and Philanthropic Studies creates a unique opportunity to pursue critical inquiry into the historical, cultural, philosophical, and economic implications of voluntary action for the public good. Historians routinely study the role of nonprofit organizations, self-help groups, and philanthropic institutions. This dual degree program offers an interdisciplinary focus on the past, present, and future. This de­gree will be attractive to students wishing to pursue (1) careers that demand the skills and talents developed by cross-training in history and philanthropic studies; or (2) doctoral programs that en­courage new and creative approaches to the historical study of philanthropy, broadly defined.

Admission requirements for the dual degree program are identical to those for each program separately. A separate ap­plication must be made to each of the programs. Prospective students are expected to take responsibility for learning about and meeting the different admission requirements and dead­lines for each program. A student enrolled in one program may apply for admission to the other program; Indiana University Graduate School policy requires that the application to the second program be initiated during the first year of enrollment in the first program. The degrees must be awarded at the same time (month and year).

Students must make plans early with advisors in both programs to identify (1) common courses and (2) a thesis topic. Study for these two degrees can be combined for a total of 51 credit hours (U.S. or European History concentration) or 54 credit hours (Public History concentration) rather than the 66 or 72 credit hours, respectively, that would be required if the two degrees were taken separately. Students are required to take a history of philanthropy course (generally either HIST-H 516 or PHST 515); credit hours for that class are applied towards the Philanthropic Studies side of the degree. For the History side of the degree, students in all concentrations must take HIST-H 501, Methodology; a 600-level colloquium; a 700-level seminar; and a 500-level (or higher) history course outside the area of geographic concentration. A common thesis meets the requirements of both programs.

Students with a concentration in U.S. or European History will take a 500-level (or higher) history course inside their geographic concentration and 3 credits of HIST-H 898 (thesis credits) for a total of 21 credits in History; the remaining 30 credits will be taken in Philanthropic Studies for a total of 51 credit hours.

Students with a concentration in Public History will take HIST-H 542, the Practice of Public History; 3 credits of HIST-H 543, the Practicum in Public History; a 500-level (or higher) history course inside their geographic concentration or H547, topics in public history; and 2 credits of HIST-H 898 (thesis credits) for a total of 27 credits in History; the remaining 27 credits will be taken in Philanthropic Studies for a total of 54 credit hours.

Questions about the degree should be directed to the History Department’s Director of Graduate Studies and/or the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy’s Director of Master’s Degree Programs.

Ph.D. Minor in History

Doctoral students in other departments or schools may minor in history by com­pleting, with a grade point average no lower than B (3.0), at least 12 credit hours of graduate coursework in history. A minimum of six (6) credit hours must be taken on the Indianapolis campus. This coursework shall include:

• HIST-H 501 Historical Methodology (4 cr.)
• Either a 600-level colloquium (e.g., HIST-H 620, H 650, H 699) (4 cr.) or a 700-level seminar (e.g., HIST-H 720, H 750) (4 cr.)
• At least four (4) additional credit hours, which may include a maximum of three (3) credits of HIST- H 575 Graduate Readings in History

Certificate in Professional Editing

See the section titled “Professional Editing” for more information.

Certificate in Museum Studies

See the section titled “Museum Studies” for more information.