About This Program

Build on your passion for the past with Kent State’s M.A. in History, where you will specialize in a period, region or theme that matters to you while engaging in rigorous coursework and original research. With close faculty mentorship and hands-on opportunities to sharpen your analytical and research skills, you’ll graduate prepared for impactful careers in academia, public history, museums, government and beyond. Read more...

Contact Information

• Lindsay Starkey | lstarke3@kent.edu | 330-672-8907

• Connect with an Admissions Counselor

Program Delivery

• Delivery:
  • In person
• Location:
  • Kent Campus

Examples of Possible Careers and Salaries*

^{* Source of occupation titles and labor data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook. Data comprises projected percent change in employment over the next 10 years; nation-wide employment numbers; and the yearly median wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less.}

For more information about graduate admissions, visit the graduate admission website. For more information on international admissions, visit the international admission website.

Admission Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in history from an accredited college or university¹
• Minimum 3.000 undergraduate GPA on a 4.000-point scale
• Official transcript(s)
• GRE scores
• Goal statement describing professional objectives and proposed field of study²
• Significant piece of written work that integrates primary and secondary sources²
• Three letters of recommendation (preferably academic)
• English language proficiency - all international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions to waive) by earning one of the following:³
  • Minimum 79 TOEFL iBT score
  • Minimum 6.5 IELTS score
  • Minimum 58 PTE score
  • Minimum 110 DET score

¹

Students who have not earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in History are eligible to apply for admission if they have completed 12 credit hours of upper-division history courses (with a minimum 3.300 GPA).

²

Applications that include AI-generated goal statements or writing samples will be rejected.

³

International applicants who do not meet the above test scores may be considered for conditional admission.

Application Deadlines

• Fall Semester
  • Priority deadline: February 1
    All application materials (including applicable fee, transcripts, recommendation letters, etc.) submitted by this deadline will receive the strongest consideration for admission.
• Spring Semester
  • Rolling admissions

Program Requirements

Major Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Credit Hours
Major Requirements
HIST 61002	HISTORIOGRAPHY (min B- grade)	3
HIST 61070	WRITING SEMINAR IN HISTORY (min B- grade)	3
History (HIST) Graduate Electives (50000 level or higher) 1		12-15
Colloquia in History Electives, choose from the following: (min B- grade in all courses)		6
HIST 62000	READINGS IN EARLY MODERN HISTORY
HIST 62070	AMERICAN HISTORY FROM PRECONTACT NATIVE AMERICA THROUGH THE CIVIL WAR
HIST 62071	AMERICAN HISTORY FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE PRESENT
HIST 62285	AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY SINCE 1877
HIST 62300	MAJOR READINGS IN THE IMMIGRATION AND MIGRATION HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
HIST 62325	MAJOR READINGS IN ASIAN AMERICAN HISTORY
HIST 62326	BETWEEN PLOWS AND SWORDS: U.S.-CHINA CULTURAL RELATIONS SINCE THE LATE 1700S
HIST 62345	IMAGES AND IDENTITIES IN US FOREIGN RELATIONS
HIST 62350	REVOLUTION AND REFORM: THE DEPRESSION ERA AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY
HIST 62360	MARGINALITY AND POWER: HISTORY FROM BELOW
HIST 62385	HIGH-LIFE HISTORY: AFRICAN URBAN CULTURAL HISTORIES
HIST 62400	THE LENS OF WAR: AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH THE STUDY OF THE MILITARY
HIST 62405	NATIVE WESTS
HIST 62415	RELIGION AND VIOLENCE IN THE MODERN WEST
HIST 62420	POLICE AND POLICED IN THE U.S. 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES
HIST 62475	MARXIST REVOLUTION IN VIETNAM
HIST 62485	THE CIVIL WAR AS EXPERIENCED AND REMEMBERED
HIST 62500	REGIONAL IDENTITY AND OHIO HISTORY
HIST 62505	SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN THE 19TH-20TH CENTURY RUST BELT
Culminating Requirement
Choose from the following:		3-6
HIST 69199	THESIS I 2
HIST 69399	CAPSTONE IN HISTORY
Minimum Total Credit Hours:		30

¹

Students may count a maximum of 3 credit hours of HIST 60092 toward the degree no matter their specific program choice. Students selecting the thesis option must complete 12 credit hours of electives. Students selecting the capstone option must complete 15 credit hours of electives. Students may elect to take two graduate-level courses outside of history — if chosen, they must take history graduate courses in two of the following three areas: (1) American history, (2) European history, (3) global history (non-Western). Students electing not to take non-history courses must include coursework in each of the following areas: American history, European history and global history (non-Western).

²

Students selecting the thesis option must demonstrate a reading knowledge of one or more foreign languages if their advisers determine that it is necessary for research. Students must continually register for HIST 69199 for maximum 6 credit hours toward the degree. Students may need to register for HIST 69299 to complete the thesis requirement; however, those credit hours do not, whatsoever, count toward the degree.

Graduation Requirements

Graduation Requirements Summary

Minimum Major GPA	Minimum Overall GPA
-	3.000

• The culmination of the program's writing component for those students intending to go on to doctoral work is the completion of a substantial thesis based on original primary-source research and the oral defense of that thesis.
• Minimum B- grade is required in all specified courses.

• No more than one-half of a graduate student’s coursework may be taken in 50000-level courses.
• Grades below C are not counted toward completion of requirements for the degree.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Develop and successfully complete an original historical research project incorporating primary sources and demonstrating mastery of project management skills, historical methods and historiographical approaches.
2. Summarize and evaluate secondary scholarship on a historical topic at an advanced level both orally and in writing.
3. Produce sophisticated historical work that meets the professional and ethical standards for the discipline of history. Such work may include, but is not limited to, book reviews, exhibitions, annotated bibliographies, oral histories, historiographical essays, digital history projects and research papers.

Full Description

The Master of Arts degree in History offers students the opportunity for advanced study in a variety of areas. Coursework emphasizes interpretation, methodology and original research. A student's program of study allows for the opportunity to conduct historical inquiry, research and analysis at the highest level. While students will be able to develop a core competence in their chosen field study, they will also study the histories of regions and times far removed from their central interests. Students may also pursue interdisciplinary work in cognate fields composed of courses in outside disciplines.

Students who anticipate continuing their graduate study beyond the M.A. degree should pursue one of the thesis tracks. Those who choose the thesis option, which is required of students on graduate assistantships, will produce a thesis based on original primary source research that engages a historiographically significant research question. Non-thesis options are available for those who do not expect to go on to doctoral work.

The program develops graduates who are educated scholar-citizens committed to historical empathy and in possession of critical thinking and communication skills honed by rigorous training.