Department of History

Main Departmental Office
Wooten Hall, Room 225

Mailing address:
1155 Union Circle #310650
Denton, TX 76203-5017
940-565-2288
Fax: 940-369-8838

Web site: www.hist.unt.edu

Richard B. McCaslin, Chair

Faculty

The Department of History offers graduate programs leading to the following degrees:

Master of Arts with a major in history (requiring one foreign language)
Master of Science with a major in history
Doctor of Philosophy with a major in history (requiring one foreign language)

Fields are available at the master’s level in United States history and European history.

Fields are available at the doctoral level in United States history, European history and military history.

Course offerings include a wide variety of classes on the history of the United States; ancient, medieval and modern Europe; Latin America; China; South Asia; the Middle East; Africa; modern Russia and Soviet history; women’s and gender history; and other topics. The department has special strengths in Texas history and military history.

The UNT library has a large collection of national newspapers, personal papers and other materials for the American colonial and early national periods, and for the Civil War and Reconstruction era. Also available are microfilm copies of presidential papers and those of other prominent Americans. A large microfilm collection of State Department materials includes diplomatic dispatches to 1906, the decimal file for all major countries, 1910 to 1929, and some of the decimal file beyond 1929. Library holdings include Texas newspapers, county tax rolls and U.S. census records. The library contains a large collection of Civil War soldiers’ records. In addition, researchers have easy access to regional archival depositories, among them the Southwest Branch of the National Archives in Fort Worth.

Other important resources in the collection include German Foreign Ministry documents; British and Foreign State Papers; British Parliamentary Debates; British Cabinet documents; proceedings of the German Bundestag, Bundesrat, and Bundeskabinett; debates of the French National Assembly; 17th-century British pamphlets and letters; and various source materials on medieval history.

Materials related to World War II include a large oral history collection on prisoners of war, Pearl Harbor survivors and Holocaust survivors. Other oral history collections include materials on African Americans in Texas and on Texas political and business leaders.

The UNT library has been a U.S. government depository since 1948. The library also has many back issues of U.S. government documents. The Department of History also houses its own extensive collection of books and films, the Kingsbury-Thomason Library.

Research

The research interests of the history faculty cover a broad range of United States, European, Latin American, African and Asian topics. Additional interests include military history, women’s history, Great Britain, early modern and modern France, and the Italian Renaissance. History faculty members have published numerous books on such topics as Texas history, the U.S. South, the Civil War, Native Americans, 20th-century United States, oral history, World War II, England, France, Italy, Germany, and the history of science.

Military History Center

The Department of History is home to the Military History Center, which houses the editorial office of the journal Military History of the West. The center also coordinates activities and events at North Texas related to the study of military history, including the annual Military History Seminar. For more information, please contact the Director of the Military History Center at 940-565-2288.

Admission requirements

All general admission requirements of the Toulouse Graduate School, as outlined elsewhere in this bulletin, must be fulfilled.
MA or MS degree: The Department of History employs a holistic review process. Applicants are evaluated on their entire academic history. However, it is recommended that the applicant score at the 50th percentile or higher on the verbal portion of the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and score either (1) at the 40th percentile or higher on either the quantitative or (2) a 4 or higher (on a scale of 1 to 6) on the analytical writing portion, have a bachelor’s degree and 24 hours of history credits from an accredited college or university, have a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 3.5 on a four-point scale for all undergraduate work or for the last 60 hours of undergraduate work, submit a statement of purpose and interests, provide two letters of recommendation, and have met all other university requirements.
PhD degree: Applicants are evaluated on their entire academic history; however, it is recommended that applicants score at the 70th percentile or higher on the verbal portion of the GRE and score either (1) at the 40th percentile or higher on either the quantitative portion or (2) a 4 or higher (on a scale of 1 to 6) on the analytical writing portion of the GRE, have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.6 on a four-point scale for all graduate work, submit a statement of his or her purpose in seeking the doctorate in history, submit a formal paper (other than the thesis) from his or her master’s work, provide three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant’s post-secondary academic record, have a master’s degree with a thesis, and have met all other university requirements. No more than 12 hours accumulated above the requirements for the MA and MS programs may be transferred into the doctoral program.

Continuing requirements

MA/MS students: To enroll for a seventh course, a master’s degree student must have earned a GPA in history courses of 3.5, and the student must maintain that average, exclusive of I and PR grades, each term/semester until the degree is awarded. If the student fails to maintain the minimum required average, he or she will be dismissed from the degree program.
PhD students:
1. To enroll for a seventh course, a doctoral degree student must have earned a GPA in history courses of 3.6, and the student must maintain that average, exclusive of I and PR grades, each term/semester until the degree is awarded. If the student fails to maintain the minimum required average, he or she will be dismissed from the degree program.
2. The student must also fulfill the residence requirement outlined in the Doctoral Degree Requirements section in this catalog.
3. To remain in the doctoral program, the student must satisfy existing university regulations concerning completion of the doctoral dissertation.

Scholarships

The Department of History awards several scholarships for graduate students. Eligibility requirements vary from one grant to another, and amounts vary from year to year. Graduate students may also apply for various types of work within the department: for example, teaching assistantships, teaching fellowships, research assistantships and positions in the department’s History Help Center and in the department’s own Kingsbury-Thomason Library. Applications for all financial aid administered by the department are available from the main office of the department (Wooten Hall, Room 225, 940-565-2288). Application deadline is February 15 of each year.

Programs

Master’s Degree

Doctorate

History, PhD

Courses

History

Quicklinks

Catalog