General Information for both M.A. and Ph.D. Students

Graduate study in history is conducted under the regulations adopted by the faculty of the Graduate College as set forth in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Graduate Studies Bulletin. The Graduate Studies Bulletin is the formal guide that sets out requirements for all graduate degrees and so should be consulted for questions about overarching regulations concerning credit hours, thesis requirements, deadlines and other official matters. Students must fulfill the requirements and procedures as specified in the Graduate Studies Bulletin, and these requirements are not unnecessarily repeated in this guide. This handbook describes the policies that apply specifically to graduate studies in the Department of History.

Graduate students may continue a degree program under regulations in force when they were admitted to the degree program. Regulations in this guide will not be applied retroactively to students whose status or degree objective does not change. Students admitted to the degree program after the adoption of this guide will be expected to follow these regulations.

Key administrative offices and committees

Graduate Chair:

The chair of the History Department appoints a tenured faculty member to serve as Graduate Chair. The Chair of Graduate Studies is responsible for the administration of all of the tasks associated with running the graduate program in the department. These duties include calling meetings of the Graduate Committee, supervising admissions, assigning advisers to incoming graduate students, assigning teaching assistants to courses, and serving as a general adviser to graduate students who have questions about the program.

Graduate Committee:

The Graduate Committee is appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies upon the recommendation of the chair of the department. It is responsible for the maintenance of regulations concerning the department's graduate program.

Office of Graduate Studies

This office is in charge of the regulations covering all graduate degrees offered by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The mailing address is: 301 Administration Building, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68588-0434; Telephone (402) 472-2878; Consult the Graduate Studies Website for details about fellowships, services available to graduate students, and up-to-date information on graduate studies at UNL.

Areas of Study

Upon admission to the masters or the doctoral degree program, we expect each student to identify North America, Europe or World as her or his area of global interest.

Historians generally identify themselves by areas of study. These may be traditional fields, such as Medieval history, or newly emerging areas of disciplinary focus, such as Gender Studies or Indigenous Peoples. A department's areas of study depend upon the research areas and strengths of its faculty and, as these change over time, so, too, do the areas that are appropriate for graduate students' specializations.

In addition to the disciplinary areas in which graduate students may develop original research projects, we expect students to expand their knowledge of historical periods over a range of geographical regions. We encourage them, moreover, to study the different historiographical and methodological approaches to history offered by thematic areas of disciplinary focus. While no grid can adequately capture the diversity of faculty research and teaching areas, the following table illustrates the major areas in which students may build their plans of study. Details of how these areas of study apply to the master's and doctoral programs are provided in the sections below.

Global Area	Areas of faculty teaching and research
Europe	European antiquity Medieval Europe Early Modern Europe Early Modern England Recent Europe German Studies 19th-Century Studies (interdisciplinary)	Cultural and intellectual Digital Military/Diplomatic/International Political and legal Science, medicine & technology Social and economic Women and gender
North America	North America before 1877 North America after 1877 North American West African American Indigenous Peoples Cultural and intellectual Digital	Environmental 19th-Century Studies (interdisciplinary) Military/Diplomatic/International Political and legal Science, medicine & technology Social and economic Women and gender
World	Comparative world Africa East Asia Latin America Indigenous Peoples Military/Diplomatic/International	Digital Cultural and intellectual Environmental Political and legal Social and economic Women and gender

Academic Standards

To receive graduate credit, students must receive:

• a minimum of B in all graduate courses in history
• a minimum of C (or P) in all graduate courses outside of history

Students who receive a grade below the specified minimum will be placed on academic probation by the department and will receive a written warning from the Graduate Chair. If they receive another grade below the minimum, they will be dismissed from the graduate program. The Graduate Committee may grant waivers to this policy in extraordinary circumstances after consideration of the student's written request.

Graduate Assistantships

Application

All students who apply for admission to the master's or doctoral program in history are automatically considered for one of the small handful of Graduate Teaching Assistantships. These graduate assistantships are granted on a competitive basis for two years in the M.A. program or three years in the Ph.D. program.

Occasionally, additional one-semester graduate assistantships may become available with the department. In such cases, the chair of the graduate committee will contact all current graduate students to invite applications for those positions.

Conditions

A graduate assistantship in history is normally a one-third time appointment (33% FTE), equivalent to a workload of 12-15 hours per week. Students with a continuous appointment as a graduate assistant for the academic year will receive a stipend and normally also a waiver of resident or non-resident tuition for up to 12 hours of credit per semester. New teaching assistants must attend the workshop for new teaching assistants held the week before classes begin in the fall. All students who hold teaching assistantships in history or who plan to apply for a teaching assistantship are also required to take History 990: Seminar in Teaching History and are expected to attend meetings of the Teaching Forum regularly.

Graduate assistants must maintain the status of a full-time graduate student in good academic standing, registering and completing 9 to 12 hours of credit each semester toward the degree objective (or equivalent full-time status with fewer hours of credit while working on the thesis). Satisfactory performance as a student involves maintenance of timely progress toward the degree objective. Passing work, involving a grade of "B" or better, must be done in all graduate courses.

Satisfactory performance of the duties assigned to a graduate assistant is also required. The particular duties will be assigned to a graduate assistant by the faculty member who is responsible for the course in which the student is assisting. The faculty member will evaluate the student's performance. In the event of conflicts or disagreements between a graduate assistant and the faculty member, the departmental Graduate Committee may also evaluate the student's performance. In any case, the Graduate Committee will make the final determination as to whether a student is performing the assigned duties satisfactorily.