Joint Ph.D. in History

The Department of History offers a Joint Ph.D. degree in association with a partner institution abroad.

Admission Requirements, Retention and Termination Standards

Admission to doctoral study requires the following:

  1. Successful applicants will ordinarily have completed a bachelor’s degree or equivalent with at least 20 hours of history or related courses with a GPA of 3.3 or higher.
  2. Students in the PhD program must maintain at least a 3.3 GPA (or its equivalent at foreign institutions) after the first year of study at Central Michigan University.
  3. All applications should include a personal statement of 2-3 pages (600-900 words) describing general fields of interest and proposed subjects of research; preparation for the subjects proposed, including specific coursework, languages, and other relevant training; professional goals.
  4. Candidates must submit GRE scores by January 3. The subject area test in History is not required.
  5. The application deadline is January 3.

Admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. requires:

  1. Demonstration of comprehensive knowledge of appropriate fields in history (defined below), by comprehensive examinations. Students must present two major fields or one major and two minor fields.
  2. Approval of dissertation prospectus.
  3. Completion of language requirement for one language other than English.

Candidates for the Central Michigan University Ph.D. must pass a comprehensive examination in two major fields or one major field and two minor fields. Comprehensive examinations in the two major fields chosen or one major and two minor fields will normally be administered during the year following completion of the Joint M.A. in History. The timing of the examination may vary depending upon the candidate's need for further preparation in particular fields, either by coursework or by directed reading.

Degree Requirements

Students must complete the following sequence during their first two years in the Joint Program:

Required Courses I (18 hours)

At Central Michigan University: 18 hours of which 12 hours must be at the 600 level or above, including 3 hours in a research seminar at the 700 level, one colloquium in transnational and comparative history (3 hours) and a second colloquium (3 hours). A maximum of 6 hours in cognate disciplines will be accepted if approved by the student's CMU and partner institution's advisors.

Year at CMU

As evidence of scholarship, students must submit a research paper for a permanent file. This paper must be prepared in connection with a research seminar, an independent research course, or a graduate-level course in the Department of History. The paper must receive a minimum grade of B. In addition and normally after revision, the paper must be accepted by the professor responsible for the course as satisfactory for permanent filing. The paper must be well written and presented in a proper scholarly format. Its conclusions must rest on interpretation of a substantial body of primary sources. A minimum length of 7,500 words is suggested. Up to 3 hours of credit may be earned for a practicum course in teaching history at the college level.

Required Courses II (18 hours)

At a partner institution abroad: 18 hours (equivalent) including major research paper/dissertation of 7,500 words or more (equivalent to a 700-level seminar requirement at CMU).

Students admitted to the Joint PhD program who complete the requirements for the first two years of study will be eligible to receive the Joint MA degree enroute to completing the PhD.

Students continuing in the program in the third year and beyond must also complete the following requirements:

Required Courses III (18 hours)

18 hours post-M.A. elective course work in preparation for field examinations, of which 9 hours must be at the 700 level or above excluding practicums.

Required Courses IV (36 hours dissertation credit)

Additional Requirements for candidacy and completion of degree program:

  1. Candidates for the Ph.D. in history must demonstrate reading knowledge of two languages other than English or reading knowledge of one language other than English plus an appropriate research tool such as statistics.
    1. Completion of the language requirement is defined as reading proficiency at least at a level sufficient to conduct graduate-level research.
    2. Completion of the language requirement may be fulfilled in one of the following ways: 1) an examination in which the candidate with the aid of a dictionary will translate into, idiomatically, at least two passages totaling no less than 500 words within two hours; 2) completion of CMU's 202 language course or its equivalent with a grade of at least a B; or 3) an alternative approved by the Graduate Studies Committee.
    3. The successful completion of one language requirement is required prior to admission to Ph.D. candidacy.
    4. Where statistics is chosen as a second non-English language, completion of the language requirement is defined as attainment of at least a B in an appropriate statistics course.
  2. Candidates for the Central Michigan University Ph.D. must pass a comprehensive examination in two major fields or one major field and two minor fields.
    1. The student will submit the membership of her/his examination committee to the Graduate Studies Committee for approval.
    2. The examination committee will have a minimum of three members, at least two members per major field and one or two members per minor field. The examination committee will ordinarily provide the student with reading lists relevant to the examination fields, but the examination will not be limited to the lists.
    3. Comprehensive examinations will be scheduled during the third year of graduate study, normally the year following the "study abroad year" except in extraordinary circumstances. Examinations will not be scheduled during summer months. The examination committee will schedule the dates of the major and minor field examinations.
    4. A major field examination will not exceed eight hours and minor field examinations will not exceed four hours.
    5. Comprehensive examinations will be taken on campus in a room selected by the Department of History between the hours of 8 a.m. and 12 noon, and 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Candidates may use the department's lap-top computer, a typewriter, or may write the examination by hand.
    6. A candidate may retake any failed examination within a three-to-six month period.
    7. Candidates may take an examination a maximum of two times, and failure to pass after two attempts will lead to dismissal from the program.
    8. Comprehensive examinations will be assessed by the candidate's examination committee as either pass or fail.
  3. The Ph.D. from Central Michigan University will require a minimum of 54-90 hours (including 36 hours of dissertation credit) of approved graduate-level study beyond the B.A. Students who complete the requirements for the Joint M.A. (36 hours) before admission to the Ph.D. program may include their hours earned at the M.A. level within the 90 hour total required for the Ph.D.
  4. The Ph.D. from CMU requires completion of a doctoral dissertation that makes significant contribution to knowledge, contains a significant comparative element, and is successfully defended at a formal meeting of the student's examining committee. Upon admission to candidacy, the student and the chair of the history department of the university where the student is currently in residence will select a committee of three faculty members, at least one from each university, to advise the candidate and supervise the research and writing of the dissertation. Dissertations grounded in two or more national histories will be encouraged. The examining committee for the dissertation will consist of three faculty members from the university where the majority of research has been done, at least one faculty member from the other university, and at least one external examiner. The chair of the examining committee will serve as director of the candidate's dissertation and will be responsible for making all arrangements for meetings of the committee.

Major Fields

Minor Fields

*Not available for minor if chosen as major.

When possible, Ph.D. candidates will be encouraged to do some teaching in areas related to their specialization.

Because it is impossible to share the legal authority to award the Ph.D., it will be awarded to some students by Central Michigan University and to others by the partner institution upon successful completion of the shared program. In all cases the relevant documents will say clearly that the degree results from the shared program. Regulations governing residency requirements and time limitations for completion of degrees will be those of the university granting the degrees. Student work at either university will be treated as work in residence by both partner institution and Central Michigan University.

Total: 90 Semester Hours

For more information regarding applications and funding opportunities, including university and department fellowships and assistantships, please go to Graduate Funding.

For other questions or inquiries, please contact:

Director of Graduate Studies
Department of History
Central Michigan University
Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859
phone: (989) 774-1090
e-mail: ctch@cmich.edu