1
Reviving the History Graduate Program
Proposal submitted to the
APCCC and University Senate
bythe
Department of History
SetonHallUniversity
Original Approved by History Department March 18, 2005
Rev. & Approved History Department September 9, 2005
Approved by College of Arts and Sciences September 30, 2005
Rev. History MA Committee 10/23/2005
Rev. Approved History Department 10/31/05
Table of Contents
Mission Statement for the History M.A. Program…..………………………………....3
Proposal for Reviving the M.A. Degree Program …………………………………...4
I. Summary ………………………………………………………………………...... 4
II. The History Graduate Program: Its History and Prospects ………………………4
III. Options within the Degree Program ………………………………………...... 5
IV. Major Concentrations within the Degree Program …………………………….....7
V. Structure of the Degree Program ……………………………………………….7
VI. Administrative Structure for the History Graduate Program ………...... 10
VII. Schedule of Course Offerings ………………………………………………….10
VIII. The History M.A. Degree and Intra-University Cooperation ………...……….10
IX. Audience for the M.A. Degree Program ……………………………….………..11
X. Timeline and Enrollment Projections ……………………………….………….11
XI. Marketing the M.A. Degree Program ………………………………….………..12
XII. Need for Expanded Resources ……………………………………….……....14
XIII. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………….16
Model Curriculum for the History B.A./M.A.Joint Degree Program…………….17
Model Curriculum for the History M.A. Degree Program ………………………..19
Five-Year Plan for History Graduate Course Offerings .………………………….20
ChartI. Existing, Proposed, and Possible Cross-Listed Courses ………………….21
Chart II. Suggested Courses for Deletion …………………………………………...25
Chart III. Courses for Proposed Use ………………………………………………..26
Chart IV. Courses by Area ………………………………………………………….29
AppendixI. History Department Faculty Publications 2003-2004, 2004-2005.
Appendix II. Research Courses Supervised by History Department Faculty
Appendix III. Letter of Support from Dean Molly Smith
Appendix IV. Budget
Appendix V. List of Other MA History Programs in the Region
Appendix VI. Letter of Support from the Department of Asian Studies
Appendix VII. Memo of Support from the Graduate Program in Museum Studies
Appendix VIII. Letters of Support from the University Library and University
Archives
Appendix IX. Letters of Inquiry about an M.A. program
Appendix X. Memo on Mobile Computing for History Graduate Students
Appendix XI. Renumbering History Courses to Accommodate MA (approved by the Department and EPC).
Mission Statement for the
History M.A. Program
Seton Hall’s Master of Arts degree program in History is designed to deepen and expandstudents’ engagement with History in all its diversity and complexity. By cultivating the knowledge of the past and the critical skills needed to examine and explain historical events and circumstances, Seton Hall’s History Department strives to refine students’capacity to think and analyze the processes of historical change. Through excellent graduate-level training in History, the Department seeks to produce professional historians and teachers who serve their communities through continual learning and the promotion of historical knowledge.
By expanding insight into the past, the History Department also demonstrates its commitment to the Catholic Mission of Seton Hall University. The study of the past challenges us to develop a deeper understanding of human potential and human failure – our capacity both to establish communities grounded in justice and to destroy such communities. As scholars and teachers, we recognize and embrace our shared responsibility: to foster a critical perspective on the past which leads us to pursue the common good for all members of our own society, from the local level to the national and global.
Finally, the History Department aims to train scholars and teachers of highacademic reputation and ethical character. To this end, we demand of our graduate students a complete commitment to the standards of professional historical research and academic honesty. By forming historians and teachers marked by their adherence to high standards, we seek to advance the quality of the historical profession and its positive influence in the public square.
Proposal for Revivingthe History M.A. Program
I.Summary
The Department of History is committed to cooperating with the College of Arts and Sciences and the University administration in reviving a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree program in History that was suspended in the 1980s. Among the strengths the Department of History will draw upon in reviving this graduate program are: a faculty committed to excellence in both teaching and research; specialists covering a diverse chronological and geographical range, including Africa, Europe, Latin America, and North America; an assortment of academic units within the College and University with which the Department of History will cooperate in offering graduate-level courses; and an expanding base of declared undergraduate majors.
We are confident that, by reviving this program, the History Department will achieve a range of benefits, including: enhancing the academic standing and national reputation of the University; elevating the status of the Department within the historical profession; providing excellent graduate training in historical methodology and research and history teaching; promoting a higher level of intellectual engagement within the campus community; and forging closer relationships with a range of institutions and individuals both on the campus and within the surrounding communities.
In this proposal, the History Department highlights several major issues related to reviving the M.A. degree program.
II.The History Graduate Program: Its History and Prospects
From 1955until 1984, the Department of History sponsored agraduate program that awarded the terminal M.A. degree. Due to the decline of student enrollment during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the program was mothballed at the end of AY 1983-84.
Significantly, this enrollment decline was not caused by forces within the University, the Department, or the History graduate program. Rather, the enrollment decline in Seton Hall’s History graduate program in the late 1970s and early 1980s was part of an enrollment decline in History graduate programs across the United States, particularly among those programs which offered the terminal M.A. degree in History.
Throughout the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, History instruction at the elementary, middle, and secondary school levels was placed under the general rubric of social studies education. Consequently, the need in U.S. schools for historians with graduate-level training declined dramatically. The enrollment decline in Seton Hall’s History graduate program was, thus, the product of a national trend toward social studies education and the related decline of History education. Another significant factor in this decline was an extraordinarily large number of faculty hires in U.S. elementary, middle, and secondary schools during the 1960s. This new, young generation school teachers hired in the 1960s retained their jobs, often for three or four decades. Consequently, throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s,there was little need for faculty replacement hires.
In recent years, however, there is evidence of a vastly increased desire to reinstitutea more focused study of History in U.S. elementary, middle, and secondary schools. This trend has been reinforced by state and national policy initiatives designed to ensure that elementary, middle, and secondary school instructors are trained and certified in the specific discipline in which they instruct their students. Within the State of New Jersey, the State’s Department of Education has enacted discipline-specific training requirements for elementary, middle, and secondary school instructors. At the national level, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 also made discipline-specific training a requirement for elementary, middle, and secondary school instructors across the United States.
Further, statistical projections demonstrate that the number of teacher retirements will grow dramatically within the next decade, creating the need for a vast number of instructors equipped with M.A.-level training in History. Those teachers who had been hired during the 1960s are beginning in large numbers to retire from their teaching positions.
Seton Hall’s History graduate program will help to address this growing need for History instructors with M.A.-level training. While during the early 1980s there were weighty reasons to favor the mothballing of the program, the recent standards set by policy-makers at the state and national levels, together with the need for teachers to replace retiring instructors, suggest that this is the appropriate time to accept students once again into graduate studies in History at SetonHallUniversity.
III.Optionswithin the Degree Programs
The proposed M.A. degree may be obtained through completing requirements within one of two distinct tracks: first, through a joint-Bachelor’s/Master’s (B.A./M.A.) degree track which will be available both to Seton Hall undergraduate History majors and possibly to undergraduate Education/History majors; and second, through a Master of Art’s (M.A.) degree track that will be available to qualified candidates who have successfully earned a Bachelor’s degree prior to enrollment in the graduate program.
The B.A./M.A. degree track represents the addition of a new element to the former graduate program that was mothballed in 1984.
Also, after the new program has operated for several years, the History Department plans to work with Seton Hall’s College of Education and Human Services in determining the possibility of expanding the History graduate program to include a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree track.
A.Combined B.A./M.A. Degree
This track will be designed to allow for completion of both the undergraduate (B.A) and graduate (M.A.) degrees in a total of ten semesters (five years of study). During their third year of undergraduate study, candidates may apply for admission to this joint degree program. Accepted candidates will normally be expected to enroll in two approved graduate-level History courses each semester of their fourth year of study for a total of 12 credits. During the fifth and final year of post-baccalaureate study, candidates will normally be expected to enroll in a total of three approved graduate-level courses each semester for a total of 18 credits.
Students accepted into this combined B.A./M.A. degree track will apply for admission during the Spring semester of their third year of study (or, after having completed 75 credits toward a B.A. degree in History). To qualify for admission, students: must have completed HIST 2180: Introduction to Historical Research Methods; and must be showing consistent progress toward a B.A. in History with a minimum of Overall GPA of 3.40 and a minimum History GPA of 3.40. During the application process, students will be asked to produce: a Statement of Intent which outlines the student’s reasons for pursuing a History M.A. degree at Seton Hall; a complete transcript (or transcripts) documenting all academic work undertaken at the undergraduate level; three letters of recommendation, including two from History Department faculty; and a writing sample demonstrating the student’s academic potential.
B.M.A. Degree
This track will be designed to allow for completion of the graduate degree in a total of four semesters (two years of study). During their first year of graduate study, candidates will normally be expected to enroll in three approved graduate-level courses per semester; during their second and final year of study, candidates will normally be expected to enroll in two approved graduate-level courses per semester. Though this track is designed for completion within two years, candidates will be allowed the freedom to complete their course work, research, and writing over a longer span of timeby attending on a part-time basis.
Students accepted directly into the M.A. degree program will have completed a Bachelor’s degree prior to beginning course work in the M.A degree program. During the application process, applicants will be asked to produce: a Statement of Intent which outlines the student’s reasons for pursuing a History M.A. degree at Seton Hall; a complete transcript (or transcripts) documenting all academic work undertaken at the undergraduate level; three letters of recommendation; Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores; and a writing sample demonstrating the student’s academic potential.
C.Possible M.A.T. Degree
After the new program has operated for several semesters (approximately 2008), the Department will begin work with Seton Hall’s College of Education and Human Services to examine the desirability of offering a M.A.T. degree in coming years.
IV.Major Concentrations within the Degree Program
The proposed M.A. degree program will allow candidates to choose from among four Major Concentrations: European History; Global History; United States History; and Catholic History. European and United States History are traditional areas of study, Catholic History draws on the traditions and strengths of the University. Global History is a relatively new field for historians. It includes the “world” but concentrates on non-western civilizations. It allows for the study of trends, comparisons across space and time (on such topics as slavery and colonialism). It also prepares students to teach the two semester sequence of World History increasingly offered in high schools.
In order to obtain the M.A. Degree, students will be required to take at least four courses designated by the Department as offerings in their chosen field of concentration.
V.Structure of the Degree Program
A survey of a range of M.A. degree programs in History and of other graduate programs within SetonHallUniversity has yielded a proposed structure for this degree program.
A. Required Number of Course Credits and Courses for the M.A. Degree
Like other History M.A. programs around the United States and comparable M.A. programs within the University, this degree will be awarded on the basis of the completion of 30credit hours of approved coursework (three credits per course). Students will thus complete a total of (at least) ten approved courses before being awarded the M.A. Degree.
For students enrolled in the B.A./M.A. degree program, a total of 12 credits (four History graduate elective courses) taken during their fourth and fifth year of study will apply both toward the major requirements for B.A. degree and toward the M.A. degree.
B.Introductory Course: The Historian’s Craft
During the first semester of graduate study, all new graduate students will be required to complete a three-credit introductory course entitled, “The Historian’s Craft.” This course will be a graduate-level introduction to the field of historiography, and it will introduce students to a breadth of perspectives and subfields within the historical profession.
Individual professors will be free to design and execute their own course syllabi for “The Historian’s Craft,” but each should be careful to address issues of central significance in early graduate history education, including: the nature of historiography; the distinctive perspective characteristic of various kinds of historical research and writing (i.e.: cultural history, intellectual history, social history, political history, etc.); the standards for evaluating historical evidence; and the standard’s for evaluating secondary literature.
C.Types of Course Offerings
There will be four types of course offerings within the History M.A. program.
1.Program in Directed Readings (PDR) Courses: Four courses will be
designated as PDRs, each corresponding to one of the four Major Concentrations offered within the program. These courses will be designed to introduce students to the major historiographical issues that have arisen in the secondary literature of the pertinent field.
2.Topics Courses: These will consist of focused graduate reading and research seminars in some particular area of history. These courses will be expected to correspond to one or more of the four Major Concentrations, thus allowing students to complete the required number of courses within their chosen field.
3.Graduate/Undergraduate Course Offerings: These will consist
of graduate sections added to undergraduate course offerings. In addition to attending lecture sections and reading materials assigned to undergraduates, participants in the these graduate sections will be required to complete additional reading and writing assignments and meet with the course instructor in additional discussion sections several times throughoutthe semester. Students will be permitted to take no more than three courses (nine credit hours) of Graduate/Undergraduate course offerings to complete the M.A. degree.
4.Independent Research: This will be the designation assigned to M.A.
Thesis Research and Oral/Written Examination Readings, and students will only be permitted to register for these courses during their final two semesters in the program. These courses represent opportunities to conduct individual, faculty-directed research/writing or reading that will lead to the completion of the M.A. degree.
D.Capstone: Thesis and Oral/Written Examination Options
Students within the M.A. Program will be allowed the option of choosing between researching and writing an M.A. Thesis or undertaking both a 180-minute Written Examination and anOral Examination at the conclusion of their final semester in the program.
1.M.A. Thesis Option:Students choosing to research and write an M.A.
Thesis will complete two semesters of M.A. Thesis Research (equivalent of two courses, three credits each). Theses should be approximately 40-60 pages in length and should demonstrate capacity for both original historical research and the ability to situate that research within its proper historiographical context. All students will work with a designated thesis adviser. Upon completion of the M.A. Thesis, students will submit a copy of the Thesis to a previously determined panel of three faculty (at least two from the History Department, and when appropriate a third from another SetonHallUniversity department or from another university). The MA candidate will then participate in an oral defense of the Thesis before this panel. The grade assigned to the completed M.A. Thesis will be applied to six credit hours in calculating the student’s final Grade Point Average (GPA).
2.Written/Oral ExaminationOption:Students choosing to undertake
both a 180-minute Written Examination and anOral Examination will register for three-credits of Oral Examination Reading during their final semester of study. During this period, they will be expected to prepare for the Oral Examination by completing advanced readings assigned to them by two examining professors, preferably in two distinct research areas in which the student has previously completed at least one graduate course. Upon completion and passage of the Written Examination, a board of three History Department graduate facultywill meet with the student to conduct the Oral Examination, two facultyserving as examiners and one serving as a referee. The grade assigned to the student for his/her examination performance will be applied to three credit hours (equivalent to one graduate course) in calculating the student’s Grade Point Average. In order to ensure that students choosing the Written/Oral Examination option have met the standards of competence in undertaking historical research, they will be required to complete at least one graduate course in which a substantial research paper is assigned.