Graduate Study in History at UNL

The Department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln enjoys an exceptionally high national and international reputation. Three history faculty have won the university's award for outstanding research and creative activity, and nine have received special awards for excellence in teaching. Current members of the department have authored or edited nearly 100 books and dozens of articles.

The University

Founded in 1869, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has a current enrollment of approximately 24,000 students, including about 3,800 graduate students. The UNL campus is located adjacent to Lincoln's downtown area, within easy walking distance of numerous retail stores, restaurants, movie theaters, museums, art galleries and performance halls. The Lied Center for Performing Arts, Sheldon Art Gallery, and Ross Theater on the UNL campus makes Lincoln an outstanding cultural site.

Programs

The department offers M.A. and Ph.D. programs in three general areas: North America, Europe, or World. M.A. and Ph.D. fields within areas include North American West, American Society and Culture, Military/Diplomatic/International History, Indigenous Peoples, Pre-Modern Europe, Modern Europe, German Studies, Women's History, and Comparative World History. The department's program emphasizes broad-based training and comparative study. All doctoral students with fields in North America or Europe must take 12 hours in comparative World History courses. The M.A. is available under a thesis option which requires 30 hours of credit and should be chosen by those who are preparing for careers involving scholarly research or in college or university teaching. A non-thesis option, designed for those interested in a more general career in teaching, requires 36 hours of credit. Please consult the department's Guide to Graduate Study in History (available from the History Department office or graduate chair) for details about the programs. Prospective students are also urged to examine the list of faculty and their specialties.

The objective of the graduate program in history is to prepare students for careers in research and teaching. The faculty make every effort to provide a creative environment to sustain a community of scholars, and a substantial part of all graduate students' training is in small seminars. All beginning students should take History 900: Introduction to Historical Study, which exposes them to general themes in all areas of historical research and writing. In research seminars the students become acquainted with the primary documentation available and with techniques of scholarly research. In readings and problems seminars, students study the historical literature on special topics.

Carefully structured and individualized graduate programs afford maximum personal contact and consultation between graduate students and professors in seminars, directed individual readings, lecture courses, and supervised thesis and dissertation research and writing.

Interdisciplinary Programs

Graduate students in history may enrich their educational experience by taking advantage of numerous interdisciplinary programs at the University. Among the most active are the Women's Studies Program, the Center for Great Plains Studies, the Institute of Ethnic Studies, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Medieval/Renaissance Program, the Environmental Studies Program, and the Nineteenth-Century Studies Program. Students may pursue a dual M.A. degree in history and in the Museum Studies Program, or choose the latter as a minor.

Libraries and Research Facilities

The university library contains over 2.25 million volumes, plus 2 million microform items, and 12,700 active periodicals. Holdings include extensive collections for the study of the American West and German history. Microforms include the major manuscript collections in American Colonial, Revolutionary, Early National, and Civil War history, as well as resources in the Middle Ages, Tudor-Stuart England, French history, Latin American history, and American folklore. The university is within several hours' drive of three presidential libraries, and the National Archives Regional Center in Kansas City. The university's Love Library offers computer workstations for access to Web searches as well as CD-ROM facilities. The History Department offers a computer lab with regular access for graduate students, including Internet and e-mail links.

Admission

For admission to the M.A. program, the requirements include a B.A. from an accredited institution, a good undergraduate record, at least 26 semester hours of history at the college level, and two years of college-level study of a foreign language.

Applicants should take the Graduate Record Examination; a minimum score of 500 is normally expected on the verbal test. Applicants should also submit three letters of recommendation from scholars qualified to assess their prospects for success and a 500 word statement indicating their purpose in pursuing graduate study. Other samples of written work are also welcome. Foreign students whose primary language is not English must have a TOEFL score of 575 or higher. Applicants who cannot meet these requirements may be admitted to provisional standing, but they must satisfy the deficiencies while taking graduate courses in history leading to a degree.

For admission to the doctoral program, an M.A. from an accredited institution is normally required, as well as the above requirements for the M.A. program. Students should also submit a major sample of writing including seminar papers or portions of an M.A. thesis. Students are strongly urged to contact a potential dissertation advisor before completing the application process.

Admission and Application Procedure

To receive additional application materials, including the University's Graduate Studies Bulletin, please contact:

Financial Aid

If the student wishes to be considered for financial aid, completed applications should be received by January 15 for admission to begin study the following August. Late applicants cannot be considered for assistance until the following year. Interested students are encouraged to visit the campus if possible. Arrangements to meet other graduate students, visit faculty members, and tour the department's facilities may be made by contacting the graduate committee chair.

Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) Program

The Department of History participates in a mentoring program designed to prepare graduate students to teach in smaller universities and colleges, as well as community colleges. Each year, five graduate students who have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree except for the dissertation are invited to participate in a one-credit seminar that deals with faculty responsibilities, campus life, the hiring process, and teaching issues at smaller colleges. Each participant is then linked with a mentor at one of five colleges in eastern Nebraska (located in Lincoln, Omaha, and Crete). Each participant has two different mentors at separate institutions over the course of the year. The mentoring program helps students learn how to prepare for a career in teaching at such an institution, and provides skills in finding academic employment.

Assistantships and Fellowships

The department offers graduate assistantships at both the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. In addition to his or her stipend, each assistant receives health insurance coverage and a full tuition waiver (including nonresident tuition where applicable) for up to 12 hours of credit each semester. Assistantships are one-third time appointments. They involve grading papers and generally assisting undergraduate students under the supervision of a professor, most often in Western Civilization, World History, or American History survey classes. Assistants in the doctoral program may be asked to teach discussion sections. Those who have passed the comprehensive examinations often receive the opportunity to teach survey courses. All students who hold teaching assistantships or who plan to apply for a teaching assistantship are required to take History 990: Special Problems of Teaching History. The department also offers a regular Teaching Forum for graduate students and faculty to discuss key issues in teaching history at the college level. The Center for Great Plains Studies offers the Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Amen Fellowship for the study of the history and culture of Germans from Russia in the United States. The Department of History awards the Addison E. Sheldon Fellowship in the History of the Great Plains and the Frank A. Belousek Fellowship in Czech-American history. The Department of History also has several small fellowships that provide partial funding and research assistance for special projects. With the Department of English, History offers the annual Woodberry Prize, awarded to the best seminar paper on any interdisciplinary nineteenth-century subject.