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Graduate Studies in History

To Prospective Graduate Students

General Description of the Program: The graduate studies program at Carnegie Mellon University is based on five thematic areas of faculty strength: African American and diaspora; culture and power; gender and family; labor and politics; and science, technology, medicine, and environment. These areas, which cut across national and temporal boundaries, form the basis for a shared curriculum. Although many of our students pursue research topics in the history of the United States, we also have students who specialize in Chinese, European, Latin American, and Russian history. In addition to strong national training, our program aims to provide students with broad exposure to transnational issues through a range of thematic and methodological courses. The department emphasizes interdisciplinary work in history, state policy, and anthropology. Almost all our students serve as teaching assistants in a large World History course. Regardless of which national fields our students choose to research, our program encourages them to explore thematic issues that transcend national boundaries. Our program is small by design, and students receive a great deal of individual attention from faculty. The program strongly emphasizes research, and all students participate in a year-long research seminar.

The department’s Ph.D. program bestows a Master’s degree en route to the Ph.D. It does not offer a terminal Master’s degree.

Special Programs/ Resources: The History Department sponsors an annual Graduate Student Forum, which provides graduate students with an opportunity to present their work, and graduate student conferences in collaboration with other universities. CMU hosts CAUSE, the Center for Africanamerican Urban Studies and the Economy, which sponsors speakers, post doctoral fellowships and a wide range of other activities. CAUSE links race, work, and economic change over time with contemporary analyses of the urban labor force, employment policies, and community development. The History Department maintains an exchange program with the University of Pittsburgh, which enables students to take courses at both universities, and have access to both the University of Pittsburgh and CMU libraries. CMU and the University of Pittsburgh also collaborate in a number of joint seminars, including the Working Class History Seminar. The History Department maintains an exchange with Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, hosting Russian faculty and enabling graduate students and faculty to pursue research in Russian archives and libraries. The Department offers regular “brown bag” seminars to graduate students on professional development. It participates with the University of Pittsburgh in the annual E.P. Thompson lecture, which features eminent social and labor historians from all over the world. It also sponsors the annual Margaret Morrison lecture in women’s history. Both events provide graduate students with the opportunity to participate in smaller seminars and discussions. Students also can enroll in relevant courses in CMU’s professional schools, such as the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. We provide a seminar in instruction to train students in teaching. Our students serve as teaching assistants in World History and other survey courses. Advanced graduate students usually have the opportunity to teach their own course, and may be eligible to teach at Carnegie Mellon University’s branch campus in Qatar.

You may contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Wendy Goldman at goldman@andrew.cmu.edu to request additional information.

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