History M.A.

Craig S. Pascoe, Coordinator

E-mail: craig.pascoe@gcsu.edu

Mission

History has been an integral part of the liberal arts curriculum at GC since its founding in 1889. The Master of Arts degree in History, instituted in 1971, is the oldest graduate program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Firmly dedicated to preparing students for professional careers in historical research, teaching, and public service, this professional degree program is designed, by enrichment and extension, to enhance the liberal arts mission of the university.

The Master of Arts in History includes three options, each of which consist of thirty-six hours. The predoctoral program requires a thesis. The public history program, leading to careers outside the traditional classroom environment such as museums and archives, contains a thesis as well as a non-thesis option. The advanced studies program, which prepares students for careers in secondary education, junior college teaching and other fields, requires a Master's Primary Research Paper.

Regular Admission Requirements

Applicants for admission to the program leading to the Master of Arts degree in History in either the pre-doctoral or public history concentration must comply with the general requirements of the University System and of Georgia College as described earlier in this Catalog. The applicant must:

1. Hold a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution with a major in history. A prospective student with a major in another field but with substantial work in history may be admitted.
2. Have an undergraduate cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
3. Score a minimum of 500 on the verbal, 460 on the quantitative, and 4 on the analytical writing portions of the Graduate Record Examination.
4. Submit at least two letters of recommendation from undergraduate professors or other references who are able to comment on the applicant’s writing ability and potential for successful graduate study.
5. Give reasonable assurance of ability to satisfy the foreign language requirement (see “Language Requirement,” below).
6. A student may enter the program any semester.  Deadlines for admission are as follows:

April 15 for admission to Fall Semester

November 15 for admission to Spring Semester

April 1 for admission to Maymester/Summer Semester

Regular admission, which includes Admission to Candidacy, is granted upon recommendation of the Graduate Coordinator of the M.A. in History program.  Prospective applicants should consult with the Graduate Coordinator prior to submitting an application.

Applicants for admission to the program leading to the Master of Arts degree in History in the advanced studies curriculum must comply with the general requirements of the University System and of Georgia College as described earlier in this catalog. The applicant must:

1. Hold a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution with a major in history, a related liberal arts major, or an advanced degree in an unrelated field.
2. Have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 for the last 60 hours of undergraduate study.
3. Score a minimum combined verbal/quantitative GRE score of 960, a minimum 500 verbal score, and an analytical writing score of 4.0.
4. Submit at least two letters of recommendation from undergraduate professors or other references able to comment on the applicant's potential for successful graduate study.

The complete application, including all supporting papers, should be filed with the Graduate Admissions Office not later than three weeks prior to the beginning of the semester in which the applicant proposes to begin graduate study. Applicants will be given a prompt decision upon receipt of necessary materials. 

Provisional Admission

Applicants who do not meet one of the requirements for regular admission may be granted provisional status.  Provisional students who take 12 semester hours (4 graduate level history courses) and earn a minimum grade of B in each course will be granted regular status.  Courses taken must be approved by the Graduate Coordinator for the M.A. in History.

Conditional Admission

Applicants who apply too late for full consideration for admission and/or have not submitted all required documents for evaluation may be assigned conditional admission status. While in this status a student may register for one semester only by completing a GC Conditional Registration Agreement for Graduate Students; this form requires the signatures of both the student and the Graduate Coordinator. Any student who registers under this agreement must be admitted to either regular or provisional status by the end of the first semester of enrollment to continue taking courses in the degree program.

Students may take no more than 12 semester hours of coursework in conditional and provisional status combined.

Academic Dismissal

If a student's grade point average (GPA) falls below a cumulative 3.0 (out of a 4.0 scale) the student will be placed on academic probation.  If they are unable to bring their GPA to a minimum of 3.0 by the next semester they will be dismissed from the program.  If a student receives a grade of C (2.0) in two graduate level courses they will be dismissed from the program.

Career Information

The Master of Arts degree in History prepares students for further study elsewhere toward the Ph.D. degree and for teaching on the community college level. More generally it develops research and writing skills that would be applicable to work in historical societies, archives, museums, libraries, national and state historical sites, journalism, law, the ministry, fiction and non-fiction writing, and government service. The M.A. in History in Public History provides a solid basis in historical scholarship and trains students specifically for careers in museums, archives, and other positions for interpreting history outside the classroom. It includes a six-hour practicum where students can utilize the rich resources of the Milledgeville locality or other historical sites throughout the state to gain hands-on experience. The Advanced Studies in History M.A. may be utilized for teaching at two-year colleges and high schools and for a variety of administrative positions where historical expertise is required.

Programs of Study

In pre-doctoral and public history concentrations students must satisfy a language requirement and pass a thesis defense or comprehensive examination. Prior to mid-term of the first thesis research course, students must write and defend a thesis prospectus. Each student is advised regularly by the history graduate coordinator and eventually by a thesis advisor.

Other Requirements

Students may choose a traditional M.A. in history or an M.A. in public history or an M.A. in advanced studies in history.

To remain in good standing, students must enroll in at least one hour of course work per semester. Those who do not maintain continuous enrollment (not including summers) must reapply for admission.

Graduate Assistantships will be awarded on a competitive basis by the graduate faculty. Students must apply to the graduate coordinator by April 15 to be eligible to receive awards for the following academic year. Graduate assistantships are awarded on a semester to semester basis only.

All requirements for the M.A. must be completed within five years of matriculation. Students who do not meet the five year deadline must apply for readmission to the program and take HIST 6001 (Historical Methods and Interpretations) and an advanced topics course or a graduate only course in addition to whatever other degree requirements remain.

Advisement

Upon admission to the program, each student is advised by the graduate coordinator. Graduate students will meet with the graduate coordinator during advisement week when they will select classes for the next semester.  In addition, students will meet with the graduate coordinator at the beginning and end of each semester to discuss their progress in the program and any issues that they may have.

Language Requirement

A reading knowledge of one modern foreign language must be demonstrated. A reading knowledge may be demonstrated in either of two ways:

1. By having completed not more than four years prior to admission to graduate study, the fourth course or higher of a language with a grade of at least B.
2. By an examination, either standardized or local at the option of the student, administered by the Department of Modern Languages & Cultures of the University. The local examination consists of two parts: (a) writing a satisfactory translation, with the aid of a dictionary, of a relatively brief passage from a previously unseen work in the field of history, and (b) writing a satisfactory general summary in English, with the aid of a dictionary, of a longer passage from a previously unseen work in the field of history, and satisfactorily answering oral questions on the passage.

The examination may be taken a maximum of three times in any one language. The student should make arrangements for taking the examination directly with the chairperson of the Department of Modern Languages & Cultures.

Thesis

Students will submit a thesis in an acceptable style of historical writing which demonstrates the ability to investigate independently a topic of historical significance. The topic will be selected in consultation with the student’s thesis director. Style and format will be in conformity with Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Seventh Edition (Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 2007).

The original and four copies of the completed thesis in unbound form must be submitted to the supervisory committee for critical reading by a date determined by the thesis director. After the student has successfully completed the thesis defense and course work, the original will be placed in the vault of the University library for safekeeping, and the copies will be bound. The student will be charged a binding fee. One copy will be returned to the student and the others will be distributed to the library (for circulation), the Department of History and Geography and the thesis director.

The student must be registered for HIST 6970 (Thesis Research) in the semester in which course requirements are completed and the thesis examination is passed.  If the student is not registered for HIST 6970 the graduate coordinator will only approve the thesis as submitted as soon as the student enrolls in a semester.

Further Information

Inquiries concerning the nature of the program, the availability of given courses, and the availability of graduate assistantships should be addressed to the Graduate Coordinator in the Department of History and Geography, Georgia College, Campus Box 47, Milledgeville, GA 31061; telephone (478) 445-5215.