The Stony Brook doctoral program offers an intensive, far-ranging education, culminating in an original research and writing project. It prepares students for a professional career in higher education, or for jobs in media, government or other fields which rely upon the skills and knowledge of the historian. In addition to acquiring thorough training in a chosen specialty defined by time (medieval, early modern, 18th, 19th or 20th centuries) and by place (Latin American, U.S., European, Asian or African), students of different periods and regions of the world take many of the same courses, on topics drawn from the department’s thematic areas.
The first phase of doctoral program consists of course work. During their first year, all students take a core seminar which covers fundamental readings in several thematic areas, as well as basic methods of research and historical writing. Early on, the students also begin taking field seminars in the traditional geographic and chronological specialties, theme seminars devoted to readings in the department’s topical areas of specialty, as well as a teaching practicum. In the second year, they may begin taking research seminars, also with a thematic focus. Near the end of their coursework, they attend a seminar in which they compose their dissertation prospectus. They also undertake a comprehensive oral examination in their proposed areas of specialty. Upon satisfactory passage of the required courses as well as their orals and any language requirement, they are then advanced to “candidacy.” In this, the final phase of their doctoral education, they work closely with a faculty advisor to research and write a book-length manuscript that offers a significant contribution to the historical literature.
COURSE OF STUDY AND PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
A. Coursework
B. Full-time Status
C. Award of Master’s Degree for Doctoral Students
D. Foreign Language Requirement
E. Qualifying Examination and Advancement to Candidacy
F. Dissertation Committee
G. Dissertation and Defense
H. Advising and Evaluation
A. Coursework
Students in the doctoral program are expected to complete three years of coursework distributed in the manner outlined below. At the end of the third year, students take a comprehensive examination designed to assess their mastery of the subject matter, conceptual tools, and research skills necessary to undertake independent research for the dissertation. The dissertation is to be a substantial piece of original research completed independently by the student, and all students are required to defend their dissertation orally at the end of their course of study.
Students in the doctoral program are required to take the following courses:
1. 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 graduate program. All full-time students in the masters and doctoral programs are required to take this course, which is offered only as a fall/spring sequence, during their first year.
2. 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 and periods. These courses include HIS 501/502, 521/522, 541/542, 561, and 562. These courses are offered–at minimum–on a two-year cycle, though many 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 in their area of concentration where available. Students are also encouraged to audit relevant undergraduate courses in their geographical area of interest.
3. Three 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 are offered in the following areas: 1)Women, Gender, Sexuality and Reproduction; 2)Nation-State and Civil Society; 3)Empire, Modernity, and Globalization; and 4)Environment, Science and Health. A minimum of two theme seminars are offered each semester. Topics change regularly, and students are free to choose among the theme seminars being offered.
4. Three Research Seminars (3 credits each): Research seminars will typically have a set of common core readings, but they are designed to give students the opportunity to carry out individual research projects using primary sources in areas related to their developing scholarly interests. Research seminars are generally taken during the second and third years. The final research seminar is generally taken in conjunction with the dissertation prospectus workshop.
5. Supervised Teaching (HIS 581, 3 credits): All students who hold teaching assistantships must register for this course.
6. Teaching Practicum (HIS 582, 3 credits): This course must be taken by all students who hold teaching assistantships during the first semester in which they work as a teaching assistant. This course will provide an opportunity for students to discuss classroom teaching issues as they occur, and it offers a forum for understanding problems of classroom authority, student-teacher relations, plagiarism, sexual harassment, etc. Students may be required to attend teaching workshops offered by the History Department or the Graduate School in addition to their other TA duties. These workshops are also open to students who do not hold teaching assistantships.
7. Dissertation Prospectus Workshop (HIS 695, 3 credits): This course must be taken by all students and should be completed either before or in the same semester as the qualifying examination. This workshop helps students prepare their dissertation prospectus. The prospectus should contain: an explanation of the research problem under investigation; a summary of the relevant secondary literature; a statement of hypothesis; an outline of both research sources (especially primary materials) and methods the student expects to employ. The prospectus must be acceptable both to the instructor of the workshop and to the student’s Ph.D. committee. This workshop will be offered once each year in the spring semester. Completion of the workshop and the dissertation prospectus are required for advancement to candidacy. The course grade is S/U.
As part of the coursework taken prior to the qualifying examination, students may also enroll in the following workshops:
8. Reading Workshops (3 credits each): In addition to their regularly scheduled courses, faculty also supervise organized reading courses known as workshops. The department is committed to this kind of collective independent study rather than individual directed readings. Students are encouraged to propose workshop topics collectively that meet their specific needs and intellectual interests and to arrange with appropriate faculty members to offer them. Workshops often provide an opportunity for a groups of students to systematically explore the historiography of a particular nation or region that is not directly addressed through a field seminar.
9. Orals Workshops (6 credits, HIS 6XX): In the fall semester of their third year, students will normally enroll in the Orals Workshop. This is an independent readings course in which students are expected to read intensively in preparation for their oral examinations. Students register for this course under the number of their principal advisor or that of the graduate director.
10. Courses in Other Departments: Students are encouraged to take courses in other departments in order to acquire the theoretical tools offered by other disciplines and gain an interdisciplinary perspective on their fields of interest. Many of our students take courses in such departments as Sociology, English, and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, as well as such interdisciplinary programs as Women’s Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Such courses should be selected in consultation with the student’s advisor.
Students who hold a master’s degree from another institution may be exempted from the required first-year courses. However, the core seminar is rarely waived. In some cases, the advisor may require incoming students with a master’s degree to take the relevant field seminars and other first-year courses. These decisions will be based on an evaluation of the student’s course work and performance in the prior master’s program and on the amount of time that elapsed between the granting of the master’s degree and entrance into the Ph.D. program.
Below is a sample course of study that might be followed by a first-year student without a master’s degree who also holds a teaching assistantship:
Fall
Core Seminar I (HIS 525): 3 credits
Field Seminar: 3 credits
Teaching Practicum (HIS 582): 3 credits
Reading Workshop: 3 credits
Total: 12 credits
Spring
Core Seminar II (HIS 526): 3 credits
Supervised Teaching: 3 credits
Theme Seminar: 3 credits
Reading Workshop: 3 credits
Total: 12 credits
B. Full-time Status
Students who have fewer than 24 credits are required to register for 12 credits in order to maintain full-time status. Full-time enrollment for students who have earned the master’s degree is 9 credits. Students acting as teaching assistants must carry 9 credits (including the 3-credit Supervised Teaching, HIS 581). Once a student has advanced to candidacy, s/he must register for 9 credits of dissertation research (HIS 699, 700, 701) each semester until the degree is awarded in order to remain on full-time status.
C. Award of Master’s Degree for Doctoral Students
Doctoral students who have completed the requirements for the master’s degree may petition the Graduate school to be awarded the master’s degree while continuing in the doctoral program.
D. Foreign Language Requirement
All students must demonstrate proficiency in at least one relevant foreign language before being advanced to Ph.D. candidacy. This is a Graduate School requirement that may not be waived. Minimal proficiency in a language means the ability to translate a given passage clearly and accurately with the aid of a dictionary.
Relevant language(s) are determined by the student’s area of specialization. Students in European history are usually expected to show proficiency in two languages; these students should pass at least one language exam by the end of the third semester in the program and the other before being advanced to candidacy. All students in Latin American history must be proficient in Spanish, except for those studying Brazil, who may choose Portuguese.
Proficiency may be demonstrated either through a written exam administered by the department or a satisfactory grade in a graduate language course (e.g., French 500).
At the discretion of the advisor, a student may be required to study additional languages as part of his or her degree program. It is the student’s responsibility to establish with her or his advisor which foreign languages are necessary for the completion of the Ph.D.
E. Qualifying Examination and Advancement to Candidacy
By the second year in the doctoral program, each student should name a Ph.D. advisor, and in consultation with that advisor, name two additional members of the department who agree to serve on his or her Ph.D. oral examination committee. The committee will help the student define his or her examination fields, language requirements, and course work, as well as monitor the student’s progress on the dissertation. The committee will review and endorse the student’s dissertation prospectus and will conduct the oral examination required for advancement to candidacy.
The examination committee must be approved by the Graduate School at least three weeks prior to the exam. The “Statement of Fields” form is available in the Graduate Program Coordinator’s Office. It is the student’s responsibility to coordinate the examination date and time with his or her committee. The examination may not be taken until all University and History Department requirements have been met.
During the student’s second year, the student is also expected to define two fields of concentration in which the student will be examined during the orals. The first field should be a chosen from the graduate program’s thematic fields as applied to a specific region and period. The second field may be defined primarily in terms of region, period and topic (such as social history, environmental history, diplomatic history, etc.). The precise scope of these fields, as well as the course of study intended to prepare students in these fields, will be jointly determined by the student and his or her Ph.D. committee. Full-time students are expected to take their qualifying examinations no later than the end of the sixth semester of graduate study.
The student in consultation with the examination committee will decide the precise timing of the exam. However, the student shall present to each member of the examination committee–no later than the middle of the semester that precedes the Ph.D. oral examination–a list of books read in preparation for the examination. At that point, the committee shall advise the student of any additional reading that is to be completed for the examination.
The oral examination normally takes place in the second half of the student’s third year. The exam is based explicitly and exclusively on seminar work and on mastery of the reading list to be jointly determined by the student and the examination committee no later than the end of the student’s fifth semester. The examination committee consists of three or four faculty, one of whom may be chosen from outside the department, who will examine the student in the two fields of concentration.
The Ph.D. examination will be an oral examination of approximately two hours. The student should also be prepared to discuss the readings with reference to his or her dissertation prospectus. The committee will grade the examination “pass with distinction”, “pass”, “weak pass”, or “fail”.
F. Dissertation Committee
Normally, the Ph.D. advisor and committee will serve as the student’s dissertation committee, which will be constituted immediately following advancement to Ph.D. candidacy. If the Ph.D. advisor is unwilling to serve as dissertation advisor or if the studetn wishes to have a new advisor , one member of the department must declare in writing his or her willingness to serve as dissertation advisor before the student may be advanced to candidacy.
The dissertation advisor will meet with the student at least once each semester (or, if the student is not in Stony Brook, will correspond) to discuss progress on the dissertation. The dissertation committee will schedule the student’s final dissertation defense, which will be attended by the dissertation committee, an outside examiner as required by the Graduate School (chosen by the student in consultation with her/his Committee), and interested faculty and students.
G. Dissertation and Defense
Following advancement to candidacy, students are required to enroll for one credit of dissertation research each semester until the dissertation. Teaching assistants will register for 9 credits of Research for the Ph.D. (HIS 699). The student must present the completed dissertation in such a way that the dissertation committee has a reasonable period in which to read, critique, and suggest changes to be incorporated into the final version before the dissertation defense.
The dissertation is the basic requirement for the conferral of the Ph.D. The completed dissertation must be in the hands of the committee two full months before the scheduled date of the dissertation defense. The dissertation committee has one month to read and correct the dissertation and to give the student their written criticisms and suggestions. These must be in the student’s hands one month before the dissertation defense. If the criticisms are not written out, the student can assume the dissertation is approved in the form submitted. All written objections and corrections must be answered by revising the dissertation to the faculty member’s satisfaction during the month preceding the dissertation colloquium.
All dissertations must be discussed at a final dissertation defense which is to be attended by the student’s advisor and committee, as well as by an outside reader. The defense is also open to interested students and faculty.
The faculty committee for the dissertation defense must be approved in advance by the Vice- Provost of the Graduate School. The same form used for the oral exam will be used for the defense. These forms are available in the Graduate Program Coordinator’s Office and must be forwarded to the Graduate School at least ONE MONTH BEFORE the scheduled date of the defense.
H. Advising and Evaluation
When students are accepted into the graduate program, they are assigned an advisor based on the areas of interest indicated by the student in his or her application. Students may change advisors with the permission of the Director of Graduate Studies.
Advisors will meet with incoming students to discuss program requirements and the student’s individual course of study, and they will meet with their advisees on a regular basis as they progress through the program. Decisions concerning the student’s course of study, including general course selection, language requirements, and enrollment in courses outside the department should be made jointly by the student and his or her advisor.
At the end of each spring semester, the faculty will meet to evaluate the progress of all students in the graduate program. Evaluations of student performance will focus on the strengths and weaknesses of the student and include suggestions for improvement. The advisor or another designated faculty member will be responsible for submitting a written summary of the evaluation to be included in the student’s official file. All students will be ranked in one of the following three categories:
Good Standing: indicates satisfactory grades and timely completion of degree requirements.
Some Concerns: may reflect low grades in one or more courses, slow or intermittent progress towards the degree (even if grades areacceptable), or areas or skills needing special attention.
Probation: unsatisfactory academic performance and/or progress towards the degree. This departmental probation is independent of the rules for academic probation set by Graduate School. The Graduate Committee will lay down specific steps to be taken by students on probation, including a timetable, and failure to satisfy these conditions may result in dismissal from the program. Students on departmental probation whose academic performance remains unsatisfactory may be permitted to complete the master’s degree but not to continue for the doctorate.
Each student will receive a letter summarizing the faculty’s evaluation of his or her progress. Students are encouraged to meet with their advisors to discuss the results of this annual assessment, and such meetings are mandatory for students who are either placed on probation or for whom some concerns are noted. The performance of students who receive either of these ratings will be reevaluated at the end of the fall semester.
Incomplete Coursework
Students are strongly discouraged from taking Incompletes in their courses except in the case of unusual and pressing emergencies. The pressure of incompletes impairs one’s ability to perform well in subsequent semesters, and Incompletes can negatively affect a student’s eligibility for financial aid. Graduate School regulations require that all Incompletes be changed to letter grades within one calendar year after the end of the term in which the course was originally taken.
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.
