Admissions

Each year, we admit 10-12 students into the doctoral program. Applications for graduate admission are handled through the Graduate School.  All students must now apply online.  You may begin this process, and see instructions and other information about doing so, by clicking on the following:  apply online

If you have any questions about the process, please consult the information below, or for more detail, our page of “frequently asked questions”.   Also feel free to call or email us with further questions, either the Graduate School office itself (631/632-4723), or our History Department Graduate Coordinator (Ms. Rose Ann Hodukavich, 631/632-7480 or phodukavich@notes.cc.sunysb.edu), or our Director of Graduate Studies (Professor Brooke Larson, blarson@notes.cc.sunysb.edu).

Completed applications for admission and financial assistance, along with all required supporting material, must be postmarked/submitted/received by January 15 (click here for further information on financial aid). Students are admitted only in the spring for study beginning in the fall.

Students are admitted for part-time study, though we have found that a high percentage of students who pursue doctoral study on a part-time basis do not complete the program.

We expect all applicants to have at least a bachelor’s degree in history or a degree in a closely related field with a substantial amount of coursework in history and a strong record of undergraduate achievement. In special cases, students who do not have a bachelor’s degree in history or whose GPA does not meet the requirements stated above may be admitted on a provisional basis for M.A. study only.

Applicants are also required to submit scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). The History subject test is not required. It is advisable, especially for financial aid applicants, to take the GRE no later than October to insure that the review of application materials is not delayed. Applicants may also wish to include photocopies of GRE score report (in addition to having the official score reported to the University).

Students whose first language is not English must submit scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).

Admissions decisions are based primarily upon the admissions committee’s estimation of the student’s potential for scholarly achievement and the ability of the Stony Brook faculty to support the student in his or her intended field of scholarly study. These decisions are based upon:

· the applicant’s undergraduate record
· letters of recommendation that describe the applicant’s achievements and potential for intellectual growth,
· a sample of written work (such as a research paper submitted for an undergraduate class or a master’s thesis) that illustrates the applicant’s capacity for research, analysis, creative thought, and writing skills, and
· GRE Scores
· a statement of purpose describing the intended field of study, the insights or experiences that lay behind the decision to specialize in this area, and the kinds of questions which the applicant hopes to explore. This statement should be as specific as possible, and applicants are encouraged to contact the professor(s) with whom they hope to work before submitting the application.

Graduate Blog

HIS 542–Modern Latin American History (Graduate Field Seminar)

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

This Field Seminar introduces some major debates and literatures about Latin American history since 1820. It is designed for MA-level students who intend to go on to a Ph.D. in Latin American History, though advanced students from other geographic concentrations, disciplines, and area universities are more than welcome.

The focus is mainly historiographical or methodological: We critically engage–via intensive readings, weekly discussions, and debate–about ten model monographs in the field. Rather than cover all of the “great books” in this vibrant field, whether of trendy or classic vintage, we’ll concentrate on a broad theme found through much recent historiography: nation-building, nationalisms, nationality, and the construction of national identities in the region. The seminar begins by revisiting Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities (a book which has worked its influence everywhere) and by sharpening some perspectives on questions of nationality. Then, with close readings of a dozen or so major new monographs, we’ll examine diverse angles on Latin American “nationalisms”: from the cultural, peasant, regional, and ethnic nation to the revolutionary, gendered, and even trans-national kind. (Sorry: some obvious topics, such as economic or labor nationalism, or citizenship and nation, get overlooked here) We hope to end up with a critical awareness of how well Latin American historians–at least those working in the United States– have deployed such concepts for post-colonial Spanish America, Brazil, and the Caribbean.

- Requirements/Expectations
- There are a few basic requirements for the seminar. 1) Consistent commitment to readings and to energetic participation in weekly group discussions. 2) A collective writing assignment–of 7-9 pages–during Weeks 6-7, to evaluate how you think and write on paper. 3) Concurrent participation in the New York City Workshop in Latin American History (NYCWLAH), a collaborative project with scholars from Columbia and NYU. The Workshops are scheduled from 12-2 on three Fridays (Sept. 24, Oct. 26th, Nov. 30) at Stony Brook Manhattan (28th and Park Ave). Students report on at least one of these seminars 4) A final paper, due December 11, of 12-15 pages, surveying a national historiography of “nationalism/national identities” for one Latin American country, or a comparative essay on a specific thematic approach to nationality across several historiographic sites. Paper topics should be narrowed by Week 8, in time for the scheduled individual student conferences.
- Readings
- Major Latin-Americanist Monographs:
- Benedict Anderson, IMAGINED COMMUNITIES: REFLECTION ON THE ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF MODERN NATIONALISM (Verso, 1995, revised version)
- Claudio Lomnitz, DEEP MEXICO, SILENT MEXICO: AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF NATIONALISM (Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2001)
- Mark Thurner, FROM TWO REPUBLICS TO ONE DIVIDED: CONTRADICTIONS OF POST-COLONIAL NATIONMAKING IN ANDEAN PERU (Duke Univ. Press, 1997)
- Ada Ferrer, INSURGENT CUBA: RACE, NATION AND REVOLUTION, 1868-1898
- (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1999)
- Greg Grandin, THE BLOOD OF GUATEMALA: A HISTORY OF RACE AND NATION
- (Duke Univ. Press, 2000)
- Nancy Appelbaum, MUDDIED WATERS: RACE, REGION, AND LOCAL HISTORY IN COLOMBIA, 1846-1948 (Duke University Press, 2003)
- Daryle Williams, CULTURE WARS IN BRAZIL: THE FIRST VARGAS REGIME, 1930-45
- (Duke University Press, 2001)
- Eric Zolov, REFRIED ELVIS: THE RISE OF THE MEXICAN COUNTERCULTURE
- (Univ. Of California Press, 1999)

Posted in Faculty, Graduate, Home Page, Nation State & Civil Society by Paul Gootenberg on June 16, 2009 at 2:24 pm |

Conference: “The Worlds of Lion Gardiner”

Sunday, February 1st, 2009

The State University of New York at Stony Brook, in cooperation with the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, will hold a conference in Stony Brook on March 20-21, 2009, on “The Worlds of Lion Gardiner, c. 1599-1663: Crossings and Boundaries.” Military man and engineer, chronicler and diplomat, lord of a New English manor married to a Dutch woman, Gardiner led a life replete with crossings: of the English Channel to engage in Continental wars, of the Atlantic, of the lesser waters of Long Island Sound, of national, imperial, and colonial borders, of racial divides, and of the very bounds of colonial law. The many crossings in which he and his contemporaries were involved did much to create boundaries between things previously less clearly separated.

Conference website, schedule, and other info

On-line Registration

Posted in Department News, Empire Modernity & Globalisation, Graduate, Home Page, Research by Ned Landsman on February 1, 2009 at 3:12 pm |

Stony Brook Initiative in the Historical Social Sciences

Friday, September 26th, 2008

Please click here for this fall’s schedule of papers and speakers in this initiative. The series is a collaborative effort of the History and Sociology Departments at Stony Brook.

Posted in Department News, Graduate, Research by Chris Sellers on September 26, 2008 at 9:02 am |

Conferences (2008-09)

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Mark your calendars for two major conference being sponsored by the History Department in 2008-2009.

I. “Cosmopolis 18th Century in the Age of Sail”

Stony Brook Manhattan October 23 and October 24, 2008

Schedule, Abstracts, Bios of Main Speakers

II. “The Worlds of Lion Gardiner, c. 1599-1663: Crossings and Boundaries”

Stony Brook, New York, March 20-21, 2009

Conference site, schedule, and other info

Registration

Link to the call for papers

Posted in Department News, Empire Modernity & Globalisation, Graduate, Home Page, Research by Nancy Tomes on August 21, 2008 at 3:51 pm |

Department Colloquium Series (Spring 2007)

Monday, January 15th, 2007

All presentations will be held in SBS N303.

Dr. Chris Sellers, “What was Earth Day?”
Thursday, February 9, 2007, 2:20-3:40pm

Dr. Robert Goldenberg, “When did ‘the Jews’ begin to Notice Christianity?”
Thursday, March 1, 2007, 12:50-2:10pm

Dr. April Masten
“The Challenge Dance: Mid-Nineteenth Century Migrations of Afro-Celtic Popular Culture”
Thursday, March 22, 2007, 12:50-2:10pm

Alberto Harambour
Thursday, April 12, 2007, 12:50-2:10pm

Posted in Faculty, Graduate by Nancy Tomes on January 15, 2007 at 5:40 pm |