Graduate Program
The History Department offers a masters program that qualifies students for employment in a number of fields, including teaching and government research, though in past years a substantial number of people admitted to this program have ultimately gone on to pursue the Ph.D. As with the Doctoral Program, the Master’s Program accepts a limited number of students in the fall semester. Prospective students should be aware that funding opportunities for masters students are limited, as Graduate School regulations stipulate that students pursuing only a master’s degree in a department that offers a doctoral degree cannot be awarded a teaching assistantship or similar forms of funding. For additional information on financial aid for Master’s students, see http://naples.cc.stonybrook.edu/Prov/financial.nsf.
Program Requirements:
Students in the masters program follow the same course of study as entering doctoral students. They are expected to develop a concentration in a region or period, or in an interdisciplinary field, and to conduct research in this area of concentration in the core seminar.
A. Coursework:
The required coursework for the Master’s degree consists of 30 credit hours distributed in the following manner. Descriptions of these courses may be found above, under the Doctoral Program Coursework.
- Core Seminar (HIS 525/526, 524/527, 3 credits each semester): This course provides an intensive, year-long introduction to historical theory and research and familiarizes students with the thematic organization of the Stony Brook graduate program. All full-time students in the master’s program are required to take this course, which is offered only as a fall/spring sequence, during their first year.
- Two Field Seminars (3 credits each): The department offers a number of field seminars designed to familiarize students with the history and historiography of specific regions: Europe, the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. . These courses are offered—at a minimum—on a two-year cycle, though many of them are offered each year. Students choosing to concentrate in the history of a specific region are encouraged, but not required, to complete both parts of the field seminar sequence where available.
- Two Theme Seminars (3 credits each): The theme seminars are the heart of the department’s commitment to the theoretically informed, interdisciplinary study of history. Theme seminars generally fall under the department’s major themes: Gender, Race, and Sexuality; Nation-State, Civil Society, and Popular Politics; Empire, Colonialism, and Globalization; and Environment, Health, Science and Technology. A minimum of two theme seminars is offered each semester. Topics change regularly, and students are free to choose among the theme seminars being offered.
- Four Electives (3 credits each): The remaining 12 credits can be selected from Field Seminars, Theme Seminars, the graduate courses offered in conjunction with other departments (e.g. Sociology, Africana Studies, and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies).
Below is one sample course of study for students in the masters program:
Fall: for 12 credits. HIS 524: Core Seminar
HIS 521: Field Seminar — United States History to the Civil War HIS 541: Field Seminar — Colonial Latin America
HIS 5XX: Theme seminar
Spring: for 12 credits. HIS 526: Core Seminar
HIS 522: Field Seminar — United States History since the Civil War
HIS 5xx: Outside course (elective) HIS 5XX: Theme seminar (elective)
B. Language Requirement:
Master’s students with a concentration in European history must pass a written exam in an appropriate foreign language, and students in Latin American history must pass a written exam in Spanish or Portuguese. The other areas of concentration currently do not require a foreign language for the master’s degree.
C. Oral Examination:
By the Fall semester of their second year, the MA student should identify his/her two-person Orals Committee. The student’s Advisor will examine the MA student in readings in his/her major geo-political field (Modern Europe, Colonial North America, etc.); a second faculty member will examine the student in a complementary field (usually based on a Theme seminar). The MA Oral Exam is taken at the end of the student’s course of study. By the end of the Fall semester or the beginning of the Spring semester of Year 2, the MA student shall present to his Orals Committee a list of books and topics to be examined. Preparation for the Oral Exam may be completed through the Orals Workshop during the semester of the examination. The student should arrange the exam’s time and date with the two faculty members on the Committee, as well as through the Graduate Coordinator’s office. The MA exam will be approximately one hour, and graded as a “pass with distinction,” “pass,” or “fail.” In the rare event of failure, the MA student may petition to take the Oral Exam a second time, at a future date.
Advising:
Upon acceptance of the student into the graduate program, the graduate director will assign the student an advisor based on the interests identified by the student in her/his application to the program. If the student decides to make a significant change in field of interest, her/his advisor should be changed accordingly, in consultation with the graduate director.
The advisor will meet with each advisee during the registration period of the first semester to discuss the structure and requirements of the program and the student’s individual course of study. The advisor will meet with the student for the same purpose each semester. Course and requirement check-off sheets will be given to the student each semester, which will be filled out for the Department’s Graduate Office in consultation with the advisor.
The advisor will be present and participate in the annual Faculty Meeting and Student Conference at the end of the academic year. MA students will be evaluated according to their academic performance and progress (see “Advising and Evaluation” under the Doctoral program). If there are concerns or problems, the student’s advisor will meet with the student to discuss them. However, it is hoped that all MA students will keep in close touch with their advisors about their progress over the course of the academic year.
Master’s Students Seeking to Enter the Ph.D. Program:
Master’s students seeking to continue in Stony Brook’s Ph.D. program must submit a formal application to the Graduate School. Admission into the Ph.D. program is not guaranteed. Meanwhile, MA students are welcome to participate in all departmental activities, described above.
Graduate Blog
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |