The History Section offers several graduate programs that result in a Master of Arts degree.  Our students come with a variety of needs and expectations.  Some look to us for intellectual stimulation and development, while some look for the training that will prepare them for graduate programs on the Ph.D. or professional level.  Other students come to us seeking the experience and knowledge that will help them further their careers as teachers, as workers in the criminal justice and law enforcement systems, in government jobs or in business.  The program’s flexibility and personal attention make it extremely accessible to students with full-time jobs, families, and other outside commitments. 

In addition to gaining a solid knowledge of past cultures and societies, students working within the discipline of history are exposed to the latest developments in historical research and methodology.  The training that they receive is heavily rooted in analytical thought, critical reading and writing, used in a systematic fashion to explore and understand past human experience. 

Students interested in graduate study in the History Section should contact Dr. Ronald Delph at (734) 487-1018 or rdelph@emich.edu.  

The History Section offers the following graduate programs:

• Master of Arts in History (HST)
• Master of Arts in Social Science (SOCS)
• Master of Arts in State and Local History (SLH)
• Master of Liberal Studies in Social Science and American Culture (SSAC)

Program Strengths

• Flexibility.  One of the keys to the success of our graduate programs is the flexibility they offer students in choosing the coursework that is germane to their needs and interests.  We constantly strive to schedule our courses at times that are convenient for our students.  And at the same time, we serve our students’ needs by holding them to high expectations and standards of performance as they learn the discipline of history and engage in the study of the social sciences on the master’s level.  The training and education they receive from our programs enable our graduates to advance quickly in the teaching profession, gain admittance into the doctoral and professional programs of their choice, and allow them to secure or advance in their jobs in government, in the criminal justice or law enforcement system, and in the business world.

• Employment Opportunities.  The demand for students graduating from our program is high. Recent trends reveal that 75% of our students are classroom teachers, returning to earn their Master’s degree to enhance their credentials and advance professionally.  Others are already employed as police officers, in the criminal justice system, as social workers, laboratory supervisors, computer programmers, or in governmental jobs.  They seek out our programs in order to enhance knowledge in their areas of specialization, and to advance their careers.

• Preparation for Doctoral Studies.  For those wishing to go on to earn their Ph.D., we have great success in placing them into doctoral programs of their choice.

• Interdisciplinary Focus.  Students participating on one of our graduate programs have many opportunities for interdisciplinary work.  The addition of the Women and Gender Studies Program and the Africa-American Studies Program has increased the number of courses available to students and enriched the program as a whole. 

• Knowledge for the Twenty-First Century.  Our graduate programs in history are remarkably up-to-date in response to emerging issues in the discipline.  There are two reasons for this. First, faculty members are very active in their fields, doing research, attending conferences, and publishing on a regular basis.  Because of this, they are abreast of the latest methodological and theoretical trends in their fields.  A number of them have achieved prominence on the national level.  Secondly, with increasing retirements demanding the hiring of new faculty, a growing number of our faculty are recent graduates of doctoral programs, and hence trained in the most current scholarship and historical methodology.

• Learning Beyond the Classroom.  Our programs offer a number of opportunities for non-classroom learning. HIST 516: Medieval and Renaissance Florence and Rome is a graduate level course taught over winter break in Italy. Additionally, every summer we offer HIST 592: Civil War Battlefield Tour that travels to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

• Internship Opportunities. Credit-bearing internships are also available to our graduate students.  Examples of these are internships at the Historical Society of Michigan, the Chaldean Community Center in suburban Detroit, the Monroe Country Historical Museum, the Yankee Air Force Museum at Willow Run, and the Pro-Quest online publishing company in Ann Arbor.  We are now getting requests for student interns from historical society museums as far away as the Upper Peninsula, Elk Rapids, and Leland.