M.A.

A Master’s degree in History from the University of Delaware opens the door to jobs in public history, museums and other cultural centers, academia, and secondary education. Our graduates work at historic sites, museums, libraries, research centers, colleges, and universities throughout the country. Students concentrate in the histories of North America and Europe, and they have the option of taking courses that span the globe and that cross disciplines.

Many of our M.A. students also choose to earn a Certificate in Museum Studies; M.A. students who conduct research on topics related to the history of capitalism, technology, or consumer culture often affiliate themselves with the Hagley Program in the History of Capitalism, Technology, and Culture.

Students in the M.A. program may also pursue a certificate in secondary social studies education, which will allow them to teach middle school or high school schools.

The Master’s degree is awarded upon successful completion of a two-year sequence of courses designed to familiarize students with the substance, interpretation, and practice of history. The M.A. serves both as a terminal degree for those students who seek greater exposure to historical study before entering a variety of careers from high-school teaching to museum work, and as a preparatory degree for those students who intend to pursue a Ph.D. Master’s Degree track students who hope to switch to the Ph.D. track should arrange their graduate coursework with Ph.D. requirements in mind.

The Master’s degree track student must fulfill the following requirements:

Complete 30 credits of graduate work, of which at least 21 credits must be in history. The history credits must include the following:

● Students in their first semester will take the HIST600 "Approaches to History" course.

● Four reading seminars: With the approval of the Chair of the Graduate Studies Committee, a HIST666 component of an undergraduate lecture course may count as a reading seminar. Such approval will be given only when a HIST666 component includes regular “mini-seminar” meetings to discuss graduate- level readings.

● Either two research seminars or one research seminar plus an M.A. thesis.

The Department has an extremely successful placement record. Many graduates go on to competitive Ph.D. programs, as well as careers in public history, education, and a wide range of other fields.

Placements of graduates in the last five years include:

• Historian, Wells Fargo History, San Francisco, CA

• Records Coordinator, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (Philadelphia, PA)

• Oral History Project Manager, Hagley Museum & Library (Wilmington, DE)

• Curator, Arden Craft Shop Museum (Arden, DE)

• Yale University, African-American and American Studies Ph.D.

List of Graduate Placements