Our Graduate Program
The Department of History offers three distinct “tracks” in our graduate program:
- Stand-alone or Terminal MA degree
- Combined MA + PhD degree
- PhD degree
Our faculty cover a broad range of regional fields, but particular departmental strengths include: US history; the Ottoman Empire; East and South Asia; Latin America; pre-modern Europe and the Mediterranean; early modern and modern France and the British Empire; and Russia and eastern Europe. Core thematic focuses include the history of medicine, science, and the environment; the history of women, gender, and sexuality; public history; and imperial history.
While concentrating on the history of one nation or geographic area, our students are encouraged to develop a global or thematic perspective in their work. We cooperate closely with a host of other departments and interdisciplinary programs to offer students additional instruction in comparative perspectives and diverse methodologies.
Our graduate students edit and produce our own Binghamton Journal of History, an outlet for premier undergraduate and graduate work by Binghamton University students.
The History Department has graduated over two hundred doctorates since 1970. The majority of our PhDs have gone on to academic jobs in institutions ranging from large research universities to liberal arts colleges to community colleges
Applications
Applicants should see admission requirements and the online application on the Graduate School website. Select a degree to view its requirements and apply.
Prospective students with questions about the application portal or general application materials (such as transcripts or test scores) are encouraged to email or call the Graduate School at 607-777-2077. Prospective students with questions specific to the History Department’s program or disciplinary-specific application materials (such as the writing sample or personal statement) should reach out to the History Department Graduate Administrator, listed below.
The application deadline for all students seeking funding is December 1 (for a start date of the following August). Completed applications, with all required
materials, must be uploaded to the application portal by this date.
Note: for students not seeking funding, the application deadline is April 1. For any
student not seeking funding and seeking a January start-date, the application deadline
is November 1.
4+1 Degrees
Current Binghamton undergraduates may also be interested in our accelerated/4+1 degree programs which allow students to complete their bachelor's degree and an MA in History in just 5 years!
Graduate Training
Students have the opportunity to work closely with faculty mentors in their field(s) of interest, mixing seminar coursework with the pursuit of individual research projects. All incoming students are assigned an initial faculty advisor who, together with the Director of Graduate Studies, guides the student through the first few years of the program. Students are mentored as they assume teaching responsibilities and learn academic norms. As they settle into life in the department, students will also benefit from the support of the Graduate History Society and a diverse graduate student community that includes many international students.
Those students pursuing the Terminal MA degree are able to take courses across a diverse range of historical periods and topics, gaining exposure to new ideas and methodologies. This training offers students excellent preparation for not only doctoral work in History but also law school, public policy, government service, a career in education and teaching, museum work, university administration, and non-profit work. By their second year, all MA students choose one period, region, and/or theme of specialization and begin to develop a research portfolio. The defense of this portfolio in front of a committee of three faculty members is the culminating milestone of the MA degree, while the final portfolio product serves as tangible evidence of the skills and knowledge that a graduate has mastered.
Students in both MA and PhD programs present their research findings at our annual Graduate Research Conference, and many will also share their discoveries at one of our many history workshops, which offer an opportunity to practice oral presentation skills, exchange ideas, and develop lasting scholarly partnerships.
As part of the PhD program, students take courses that allow them to develop expertise in their primary field of research as well as in a set of secondary fields. One of the most intensive, but also rewarding, aspects of our training is the “comprehensive exam” semester, during which students read widely in their chosen fields and start to become experts in the discipline. Naturally, the central and culminating work in the PhD degree program is the production of a dissertation, an original piece of scholarship that disseminates new knowledge for fellow historians and for the broader public. Dissertation research will often lead our students to archives, libraries, and repositories around the world. During this time of independent work, students are guided by their advisors and by other faculty they have asked to sit on their dissertation committee.
Our program offers training in such specialized skills as HGIS, and we work with language and literature departments to provide support for language acquisition. Graduate students have the opportunity to present their research at workshops on campus or other universities nearby (Cornell and Syracuse are an hour away) and can also request funding to attend national and international conferences in their fields. During the summers, students are free to conduct archival research, pursue language training, and travel back to their home countries/cities.
Funding
Funding is reserved for PhD-track students (including MA and PhD combined). Almost
all funding consists of being a Teaching Assistant (TA). Funded students receive a
tuition scholarship, health insurance, and a monthly stipend.
MA-track students are not eligible for funding.
Certain individuals may also apply for the Clifford D. Clark Diversity Fellowship. To be eligible, you must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident and a new graduate student planning to enroll full time during the award period. For more information on the fellowship, visit the Graduate School's Clark Fellowship website.
Our Faculty
History is among the most vibrant research departments in Binghamton’s Harpur College of Arts and Sciences. Our faculty are active in publishing, they serve as editors for important journals in their fields, and they are engaged in international research collaborations. Many have won prestigious fellowships from bodies such as the NEH, the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard.
Our faculty are likewise some of the most involved in research initiatives on campus, leading interdisciplinary centers and programs like CEMERS, CMENAS, REEP, the Tubman Center, the Spatial Humanities working group. Graduate students benefit from access to all of these resources and scholarly communities.
Students interested in applying to our graduate program are strongly encouraged to consult the profiles of our faculty and reach out to potential advisors in advance of submitting an application.
Careers in History
Our alumni have been competitive on the job market, including the academic job market within the United States and abroad. Recent doctoral graduates have taken up tenure-track positions at such institutions as the University of Southern California, James Madison, Virginia Military Institute, Florida State University, SUNY Delhi and Wheaton College. Our MA students have been accepted to PhD programs at a number of prestigious institutions and are now training to be the professors and researchers of tomorrow. Several have opted to pursue careers as academic advisors and still others have pursued careers outside of academia, with the National Park Service, political campaigns, high schools, and private industry.
For any questions regarding our graduate program, please reach out to the History Department’s Graduate Administrator:
Christopher Carlini
ccarlini@binghamton.edu
607-777-2255
Library Tower 706