History (Ph.D.)

Students applying for the doctoral program who have received an M.A. in history from another university can be admitted straight into the Ph.D. program but may be required to take some additional courses to make up for any deficiencies in academic preparation. Students are generally expected to have concentrated in the same field at the M.A. level as the one that they intend to pursue in the Ph.D. program.

Upon completion of coursework and language requirements (see below), Ph.D. students will take a comprehensive examination. This examination must be taken within a year of completing coursework and language requirements. Reading lists for the examination are developed by the student in conjunction with the student's mentor and examination committee.

Within a year of successfully passing the comprehensive exam, the candidate must present a dissertation prospectus for the approval of the mentor and dissertation committee. After the completion of the dissertation, its oral defense, and submission to the dean, the Ph.D. is awarded.

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CIP Code

54.0101 - History, General.

You can use the CIP code to learn more about career paths associated with this field of study and, for international students, possible post-graduation visa extensions. Learn more about CIP codes and other information resources.

Doctoral students are required to complete eight classes (30-32 credits) beyond the M.A. At least six of these courses must be taken within the history department, and students must maintain a "B+" (3.5) average in their coursework to qualify for their degree.

Ph.D. students are also required to complete a dissertation, on which they will be orally examined by their dissertation committee.

Courses should be selected in consultation with the director of graduate studies.

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Medieval History Concentration

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
Coursework
One Pro-Seminar Course (see list below)		4
One Seminar Course (see list below)		4
Three Medieval History courses (see lists below)		12
Two Modern History, Global History, or Historical Courses Outside of History Department (see list below) 1		6 to 8
One History elective course 2		4
Language Requirements 3
Reading Proficiency in three foreign languages (one of which must be Latin or Greek)
Dissertation and Comprehensive Examination 4
HIST 0930	PhD Comprehensive Examination-History
HIST 0950	Proposal Development
HIST 0960	Proposal Acceptance
HIST 0970	Dissertation Mentoring - History
HIST 9999	Dissertation Direction
Total Credits		30-32

¹

These courses should encompass a minor field outside medieval history. Students may take one or both of these courses in another department provided the courses are of a historical nature.

²

Any four-credit course numbered 5000-8999 with the subject code HIST, not otherwise required for the degree, may fulfill this requirement.

³

For Medieval Concentrators, knowledge of three foreign languages is required, one of which must be Latin or Ancient Greek. Completion of one of the following courses may count as fulfilling the Latin/Ancient Greek requirement: LATN 6521 Latin Palaeography, LATN 5093 Ecclesiastical Latin, GREK 5004 Greek Language and Literature, GREK 5006 Intensive Ancient Greek, GREK 5205 Readings in Greek, and GREK 5300 Advanced Readings in Greek.

More information about the language requirement can be found on our page on the Fordham website. With approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, quantitative methods coursework may be considered to fulfill this requirement.

⁴

Consult the GSAS Bulletin for details on registration for these five administrative courses. The comprehensive exam encompasses four fields, at least three of which must be in the area of concentration; the fourth field may be in any other historical field or in another discipline, such as art history, literature, medieval studies, philosophy, political science, or theology.

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Modern History Concentration

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
Coursework
Five Modern History courses (see lists below) 1		20
Two Medieval History, Global History, or Historical Courses Outside of History Department (see list below) 2		6 to 8
One History elective course 3		4
Language Requirements 4
Reading Proficiency in two foreign languages
Dissertation and Comprehensive Examination 5
HIST 0930	PhD Comprehensive Examination-History
HIST 0950	Proposal Development
HIST 0960	Proposal Acceptance
HIST 0970	Dissertation Mentoring - History
HIST 9999	Dissertation Direction
Total Credits		30-32

¹

Customarily, these five courses include a two-semester sequence comprising HIST 5300 History Theory and Methods: The Historian's Tools in the fall, and HIST 8000 Research Colloquium along with a three-credit independent study (HIST 8999) in the spring.

²

These courses should encompass a minor field outside modern history. Students may take one or both of these courses in another department provided the courses are of a historical nature.

³

Any four-credit course numbered 5000-8999 with the subject code HIST, not otherwise required for the degree, may fulfill this requirement.

⁴

For Modern Concentrators, knowledge of two foreign languages is required. More information about the language requirement can be found on our page on the Fordham website. With approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, quantitative methods coursework may be considered to fulfill this requirement.

For Modern Concentrators who need a knowledge of Latin, completion of one of the following Latin courses may count as fulfilling this requirement: LATN 6521 Latin Palaeography and LATN 5093 Ecclesiastical Latin.

⁵

Consult the GSAS Bulletin for details on registration for these five administrative courses. The comprehensive exam encompasses four fields, at least three of which must be in the area of concentration; the fourth field may be in any other historical field or in another discipline, such as art history, literature, medieval studies, philosophy, political science, or theology.

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Medieval History Courses

Courses in this group have the HGVH attribute.

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
HIST 4195	The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem	4
HIST 5201	The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century	4
HIST 5202	Medieval Interfaith Relations	4
HIST 5203	Medieval Hagiography	4
HIST 5204	Medieval Environmental History	4
HIST 5310	Occitania: Language and Power	4
HIST 5420	Sin, Crime and Sex in History	4
HIST 5961	The Age of Suleyman 1453-1574	4
HIST 6076	Noble Culture and Society	4
HIST 6077	The Angevin Empire	4
HIST 6078	The Crusader States: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099-1291	4
HIST 6133	Medieval Religious Institutions	4
HIST 6135	Early Medieval Conflict & Peacemaking	4
HIST 6136	Disease in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 6152	Medieval Women and Family	4
HIST 6153	Medieval Economy and Society	4
HIST 6155	Medieval Towns: Urbanization and Urban Life in Medieval Europe	4
HIST 6172	Late Medieval and Early Modern Ireland	4
HIST 6256	Torture and Western Culture	4
HIST 7024	Proseminar: Making Money in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 7025	PSM: Medieval Religious Cultures	4
HIST 7026	Classics in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 7056	PSM: Medieval Political Cultures	4
HIST 7070	PSM: Medieval Intellectual Cultures	4
HIST 7110	PSM: Church Law and Medieval Society	4
HIST 7150	PSM: Medieval England	4
HIST 8024	Seminar: Making Money in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 8025	SEM: Medieval Religious Cultures	4
HIST 8056	SEM: Medieval Political Cultures	4
HIST 8070	SEM: Medieval Intellectual Cultures	4
HIST 8110	SEM: Church Law and Medieval Society	4
HIST 8150	SEM: Medieval England	4
LATN 6521	Latin Palaeography	3

Modern History Courses

Courses in this group have the HGMH attribute.

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
HIST 5100	Disasters, Planning and Prediction in Global History	4
HIST 5102	Archives and Narratives of Global History	4
HIST 5105	The Black Radical Tradition in Comparative Perspective: U.S. and the Caribbean	4
HIST 5200	Renaissance Spain: Festive Republics, Rights, Liberties and Inquisitions	4
HIST 5290	Luther and Reformation	4
HIST 5300	History Theory and Methods: The Historian's Tools	4
HIST 5302	Theory and Method in Intellectual and Cultural History	4
HIST 5400	Gender and History	4
HIST 5401	Gender and Sexuality in Modern European History	4
HIST 5403	The British Empire	4
HIST 5405	Modern Ireland 1690-1923	4
HIST 5410	Race and Gender in Modern America	4
HIST 5411	Gender and Sexuality in Early America	4
HIST 5420	Sin, Crime and Sex in History	4
HIST 5421	Religion and the Renaissance World	4
HIST 5422	1521	4
HIST 5456	20th Century Catholic Cultural Revival	4
HIST 5457	20th-Century Jesuit Moderns: An Intellectual History	4
HIST 5472	Inventing Total War	4
HIST 5506	European Nationalisms and Early Modern (Jewish) History	4
HIST 5516	Nationalisms and Racisms in Modern Europe	4
HIST 5517	Fascism	4
HIST 5520	European Mass Culture	4
HIST 5553	Book History: Texts, Media and Communication	4
HIST 5560	History of Modern Science in Global Context	4
HIST 5563	Environmental History of the Atlantic World	4
HIST 5566	Technology and Empire	4
HIST 5568	Stalinism: Life and Death in Soviet Russia	4
HIST 5574	U.S. Foreign Relations	4
HIST 5575	The United States and the World in the Twentieth Century	4
HIST 5644	Writing Early America: Historians Who Have Shaped the Discipline	4
HIST 5645	Readings in Early America and the Atlantic World	4
HIST 5650	Approaches to Global, Transnational, & Intellectual Histories	4
HIST 5725	History of American Cities	4
HIST 5727	History and Fiction in the American West	4
HIST 5730	History of Capitalism	4
HIST 5731	History of Wealth & Poverty: U.S. and Comparative	4
HIST 5733	The Country and the City in American History	4
HIST 5734	U.S. Culture and Society to 1877	4
HIST 5904	Slavery and Freedom in Early America and the Atlantic World	4
HIST 5910	Law and Empire in the Iberian World	4
HIST 5913	Golden Age Spain and Its American Empire	4
HIST 5918	After Colonialism: Latin America	4
HIST 5919	United States and Latin American Borderlands	4
HIST 5923	Atlantic World: Empires, Diasporas, and Migrations	4
HIST 5924	Latin American History and Culture	3
HIST 5926	The U.S. and Latin America	4
HIST 5961	The Age of Suleyman 1453-1574	4
HIST 6173	The Tudor Conquest of Ireland	4
HIST 6305	The English Reformation	4
HIST 6310	Early Modern European Intellectual and Political History	4
HIST 6315	Early Modern European Society and Cultural History	4
HIST 6355	Late European Political and Intellectual History	4
HIST 6360	Late European Social and Cultural History	4
HIST 6502	The Old Regime and the French Revolution	4
HIST 6520	Europe in Global Perspective	4
HIST 6530	European City: 1700-2000	4
HIST 6662	Sexuality in America	4
HIST 6710	The Civil War	4
HIST 6721	U.S. Culture and Society since 1877	4
HIST 6724	U.S. Thought and Politics to 1877	4
HIST 6725	U.S. Thought and Politics since 1877	4
HIST 6726	The United States and Human Rights: An International History	4
HIST 6731	U.S. Immigration and Ethnicity	4
HIST 6853	America Between the Wars	4

Global History Courses

Courses in this group have the HGGH attribute.

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
HIST 5100	Disasters, Planning and Prediction in Global History	4
HIST 5102	Archives and Narratives of Global History	4
HIST 5105	The Black Radical Tradition in Comparative Perspective: U.S. and the Caribbean	4
HIST 5201	The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century	4
HIST 5202	Medieval Interfaith Relations	4
HIST 5400	Gender and History	4
HIST 5401	Gender and Sexuality in Modern European History	4
HIST 5403	The British Empire	4
HIST 5420	Sin, Crime and Sex in History	4
HIST 5422	1521	4
HIST 5456	20th Century Catholic Cultural Revival	4
HIST 5457	20th-Century Jesuit Moderns: An Intellectual History	4
HIST 5460	Jesuits and Globalization	4
HIST 5560	History of Modern Science in Global Context	4
HIST 5566	Technology and Empire	4
HIST 5574	U.S. Foreign Relations	4
HIST 5575	The United States and the World in the Twentieth Century	4
HIST 5645	Readings in Early America and the Atlantic World	4
HIST 5650	Approaches to Global, Transnational, & Intellectual Histories	4
HIST 5730	History of Capitalism	4
HIST 5731	History of Wealth & Poverty: U.S. and Comparative	4
HIST 5904	Slavery and Freedom in Early America and the Atlantic World	4
HIST 5910	Law and Empire in the Iberian World	4
HIST 5913	Golden Age Spain and Its American Empire	4
HIST 5919	United States and Latin American Borderlands	4
HIST 5921	Social Movements in Global Perspective	4
HIST 5923	Atlantic World: Empires, Diasporas, and Migrations	4
HIST 5925	Global Migrations	3
HIST 5926	The U.S. and Latin America	4
HIST 6077	The Angevin Empire	4
HIST 6520	Europe in Global Perspective	4
HIST 6531	Bombay–Shanghai–London	4
HIST 6726	The United States and Human Rights: An International History	4
HIST 6731	U.S. Immigration and Ethnicity	4

Proseminar Courses

Courses in this group have the HGPS attribute.

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
HIST 5300	History Theory and Methods: The Historian's Tools	4
HIST 7024	Proseminar: Making Money in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 7025	PSM: Medieval Religious Cultures	4
HIST 7026	Classics in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 7056	PSM: Medieval Political Cultures	4
HIST 7070	PSM: Medieval Intellectual Cultures	4
HIST 7110	PSM: Church Law and Medieval Society	4
HIST 7150	PSM: Medieval England	4

Seminar Courses

Courses in this group have the HGSM attribute.

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
HIST 5214	Women and Gender in Medicine in Europe and North America	4
HIST 8024	Seminar: Making Money in the Middle Ages	4
HIST 8025	SEM: Medieval Religious Cultures	4
HIST 8056	SEM: Medieval Political Cultures	4
HIST 8070	SEM: Medieval Intellectual Cultures	4
HIST 8110	SEM: Church Law and Medieval Society	4
HIST 8150	SEM: Medieval England	4

Historical Courses Outside of History Department

Courses in this group have the HGOH attribute.

Course List

Course	Title	Credits
ENGL 6231	Late Medieval Women	3
HIST 5456	20th Century Catholic Cultural Revival	4
HIST 5457	20th-Century Jesuit Moderns: An Intellectual History	4
LATN 6521	Latin Palaeography	3
THEO 6480	Christianizing the Barbarians	3