History

Professor Virginia G. Drachman, Chair; Arthur Jr. and Lenore Stern Chair in American History; Women in the U.S., medicine and society in the U.S., modern U.S.
Professor Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Chair in Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies,  Middle East
Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, Prince of Asturias Chair in Spanish Culture and Civilization; Spanish, colonial, environmental, and global
Professor Ayesha Jalal, South Asia, the Muslim world
Professor Gary P. Leupp, Japan
Professor Howard L. Malchow, Modern Britain, Europe
Professor George J. Marcopoulos, Southeastern Europe, Byzantine history, and European diplomatic history
Professor Steven P. Marrone, Medieval, early modern Europe
Professor Daniel Mulholland, Russia and modern Germany
Professor Martin J. Sherwin, Walter S. Dickson Professor of English and American History; Recent U.S. history and foreign policy
Professor Reed Ueda, Industrial and urban U.S. history, immigration, American social history, comparative and world history
Professor Peter Winn, Latin America
Associate Professor Gerald Gill, African-American and recent U.S. history, U.S. South since 1865
Associate Professor Ina Baghdiantz McCabe, Darakjian and Jafarian Chair in Armenian History; Armenia and cross-cultural world history
Associate Professor Beatrice F. Manz, Middle East and Inner Asia
Associate Professor Jeanne Penvenne, Africa; Labor and social history of Mozambique
Assistant Professor Benjamin Carp, Early American History
Assistant Professor Shruti Kapila, Usen Family Career Development Professorship at Tufts University; South Asian history
Assistant Professor Ya-Pei Kuo, China
Lecturer Barbara Driscoll, Latino/a history
Adjunct Professor Gregory R. Crane, Winnick Family Chair in Technology and Entrepreneurship; Greek literature, computers  and classics 
Adjunct Professor R. Bruce Hitchner, Roman history, archaeology and international relations
Adjunct Professor John C. Perry, Japanese diplomatic history
Adjunct Associate Professor Steven W. Hirsch, Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern history
Adjunct Associate Professor Winifred Rothenberg, Economic history
Adjunct Senior Lecturer John C. Schneider, U.S. urban and social history
Adjunct Lecturer Steven Cohen, History, political science and philosophy, curricula instruction, practice of teaching history and political science

The study of history reveals the past, enlightens the present, and influences the future. Historians seek to understand how nations, societies, and individuals have lived and thought, and why they have behaved the way they did. Supplying the context that informs art, ideas, institutions, and events, history illuminates all of human experience.

Students of history apply the tools of critical analysis and imaginative synthesis. Trained to examine evidence carefully and evaluate received interpretations of the past, they construct their own understanding of historical processes and occurrences, building on the foundation of primary sources and the writings of other historians.

The Department of History offers a wide range of courses designed to meet the needs and interests of students with differing concerns and levels of preparation. General surveys (numbered below 100) cover entire periods, fields, or geographic areas, while thematic courses (numbered 100 to 179, 190-197) provide more specific, comparative, or regional perspectives. Foundation Seminars (announced each semester and numbered History 1XX) introduce undergraduate majors to the historian's craft. Research seminars (numbered 180 to 187) provide them with the opportunity to practice it through a significant research project. Students interested in specialized work are encouraged to explore independent study or to consider the option of writing a senior honors thesis.

Undergraduates may adopt history as either a major or a minor concentration. The history graduate program offers the M.A. degree, with the option of earning a certificate in museum studies, and (in a limited number of fields) the Ph.D.

Undergraduate Concentration Requirements
The history major requires completion of a minimum of ten courses, ordinarily to be taken within the department. (History courses taken at Tufts' programs abroad or transferred from other accredited institutions may be counted toward the minimum of ten courses.) However, in consultation with their adviser, majors may petition the chair of the department (normally prior to taking such courses) to count up to two courses from outside the department in cases where it may be difficult or impossible to complete their concentration core (see below) within the department. Such courses may not count toward either of the seminar requirements.

Of the ten courses, the following are required:

1) One foundation seminar (a high-demand course) to be completed during the sophomore year or as soon as possible after declaration of the major.
2) One course covering the pre- and early-modern period.
3) One course in U.S. history, one in European history, and one in any two of the following areas: Africa, Latin America, the Middle East or Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia.
4) Four or more courses to serve as a coherent concentration (which may be defined geographically or topically).
5) One research seminar (a high-demand course) to be taken within the history department at Tufts. 

In consultation with their adviser, majors should prepare for their research seminar by taking courses, either at Tufts or abroad, that build toward this capstone experience. Ordinarily a research seminar will form part of the major's core concentration. Those intending to write a Senior Honor's Thesis (see below) should plan to take their research seminar in the second semester of their junior year or, at the latest, the first semester of their senior year.

(Please note that in some instances the same course may be used to fulfill more than one of these conditions.)

Undergraduate Minor Program
The department offers a minor in history requiring a minimum of five courses in history to which the following conditions apply:

1) One history course covering the pre- or early-modern period.
2) One history course in at least two of three areas: North America, Europe, other world areas (e.g., Africa, Middle East, Asia, or Latin America).
3) Three courses developed as a coherent core in consultation with an adviser in the history department.

(Please note that some courses within the five may be used to fulfill more than one of the above conditions.)

Departmental Honors
When nominating seniors for honors the department looks carefully at qualitative issues--especially performance in work beyond the introductory, survey-course level (advanced courses, seminars, and independent study)--and not simply GPA and the number of A grades earned. History majors intending to pursue thesis honors should consult their advisers and the guidelines described under Thesis Honors Program in this bulletin.

Graduate Program
The Department of History offers qualified students a small, selective program of graduate study, organized around comparative and regional topics, the preparation of specified fields, and individual research in consultation with a faculty member. Teaching assistantships are available to the best-qualified graduate students, providing a valuable experience in classroom teaching.

Master of Arts
The master's program is designed both to prepare students for doctoral programs in history and to enhance the historical knowledge and interpretative skills of professionals working in secondary schools, libraries, foundations, and museums. Students planning a career in the museum field may choose to coregister in the certificate program in museum studies (see below).

GRE scores (verbal, quantitative, analytical) and, if appropriate, TOEFL, are required for admission to the graduate history program. Admissions are contingent, in part, on an appropriate match between faculty and student interest. Completion of the program requires proven reading proficiency in at least one foreign language. Anyone not meeting the language requirement at the time of matriculation must indicate a plan to acquire this knowledge within two years.

Normally, students are expected to complete the program within two academic years. The successful completion of ten courses is required. These courses must include the following: the historiography proseminar (fall), a graduate colloquium (spring), and two research courses.

Up to two of the ten courses required for the master's degree may, by prior agreement with the principal adviser, be taken in a department other than history. Students may take selected undergraduate courses, numbered 1 through 99, for graduate credit by enrollment in the related 200-level readings course by arrangement with the principal adviser and the relevant instructor. Graduate students may not take undergraduate colloquia. Appropriate courses offered by the Fletcher School will be accepted by petition.

In consultation with the student's principal adviser and a field committee chosen before the end of the first semester of graduate work, each student will choose two fields of study to be prepared for examination. These fields may be regional or comparative in focus. The student and the committee will design a sequence of courses that will best prepare the student for examinations in each field; these examinations will be taken at least six weeks prior to graduation.

A student may devote two out of ten courses to the writing of a thesis. The subject of the thesis must be chosen in consultation with the principal adviser, and a written proposal must be submitted for approval to a thesis committee containing at least one member from outside the department. The thesis committee shall evaluate the completed thesis and conduct an oral examination of the student on the topic of the thesis. The student whose thesis proposal is accepted by the thesis committee will be excused from examination in one of the required two fields of study; the determination of the excused field is to be made by the student's field committee. Work on the thesis will count as one of the two required research courses.

In the last year of graduate study the student will present a research project drawn from graduate course work at Tufts to an ongoing graduate history roundtable for critical discussion.

Museum Studies Program
The museum studies program provides qualified postbaccalaureate students with professional training in the administration, preservation, and interpretation skills required for a career in the museum field. Course work may be pursued on a single-course basis, as a candidate in the certificate program, or as a candidate in the combined master of arts in history and museum studies. The certificate in museum studies requires completion of the museum studies foundation course, three elective courses, and the internship. Students interested in the museum studies courses or the certificate program should contact the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies.

Criteria for admission to the combined master's program in history and museum studies are the same as those for the master's degree. The requirements for completion of a master's degree in history and museum studies are:

1) The successful completion of eleven courses, including the historiography proseminar, at least one research course, the museum studies foundation course, three museum studies elective courses, and the museum studies internship.
2) Preparation of one regional or comparative field of study and examination in that field (see requirements in preceding description of master's degree in history). A thesis is optional.
3) The presentation of one research project drawn from course work to the graduate history roundtable.

Doctor of Philosophy
The Ph.D. program in history accepts only well-prepared students who intend to work closely with a particular Tufts faculty member in a limited number of fields. Students in the Tufts M.A. program may apply to be transferred into the Ph.D. program after one year of study, and the department will consider applications from students who have completed a master's degree in history or the equivalent elsewhere.

Training for the doctorate in history is available in the following areas:
1) Modern Spanish History
2) Modern South Asian History

Requirements for admission are as follows: exceptional performance in master's degree course work; proficiency on entrance in at least one foreign language (proficiency in two foreign languages is required before completion of degree); GRE (aptitude section only), and, if appropriate, TOEFL; detailed statement of intent, including discussion of planned dissertation field; the written support of a primary Tufts faculty sponsor, who will have arranged for at least one other faculty supervisor. Students admitted with a master's degree from another university will be allowed to transfer up to eight course credits.

Requirements for completion of the degree are as follows: proficiency in two foreign languages; completion of sixteen courses at the graduate level, including the historiography proseminar, three graduate colloquia, and at least three semesters of independent readings or research; oral or written examinations in three fields (based on course work and readings) administered by the faculty supervisors and other appropriate members of the department; dissertation directed by the faculty supervisors, to be read by and defended before a committee including the primary adviser, at least one other member of the department, and a third faculty member in the field drawn, if possible, from another institution. 

For more detailed information, please visit the website http://ase.tufts.edu/history/.

To view Course Descriptions, please go to:  http://webcenter.studentservices.tufts.edu/courses/main.asp.