Social Science Building 254
(213) 740-1657
FAX: (213) 740-6999
Email: history@usc.edu
www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/history/

Chair: Carole Shammas, Ph.D.

University Professor: Kevin Starr, Ph.D. (Policy, Planning, and Development)

John R. Hubbard Chair in History: Carole Shammas, Ph.D.

Professors: Lois W. Banner, Ph.D.*; Gordon Berger, Ph.D.; Lisa Bitel, Ph.D.; Roger V. Dingman, Ph.D.; Richard W. Fox, Ph.D.; Charlotte Furth, Ph.D.; Paul W. Knoll, Ph.D.*; Philippa Levine, Ph.D.; Peter C. Mancall, Ph.D.; Peter Nosco, Ph.D. (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Steven J. Ross, Ph.D.*; John E. Wills, Ph.D.*

Associate Professors: Elinor Accampo, Ph.D.; Marjorie R. Becker, Ph.D.; Thomas C. Cox, Ph.D.*; Philip J. Ethington, Ph.D.; Lon Kurashige, Ph.D.; Mauricio Mazon, Ph.D.; D. Brendan Nagle, Ph.D.*; Azade-Ayse Rorlich, Ph.D.*; George J. Sanchez, Ph.D.; Vanessa Schwartz, Ph.D.; Terry L. Seip, Ph.D.*

Assistant Professors: Claudio Fogu, Ph.D.; Jason Glenn, Ph.D.; Kyung Moon Hwang, Ph.D.; Paul Lerner, Ph.D.; Mariá Elena Martinéz, Ph.D.

Emeritus Professors: John R. Hubbard, Ph.D., D.Hu.L.*; Ernest B. Koenker, Ph.D.; A. Lloyd Moote, Ph.D.; Doyce B. Nunis, Jr., Ph.D.*; Edwin J. Perkins, Ph.D.; Charles R. Ritcheson, Ph.D., Litt.D.; John A. Schutz, Ph.D.

*Recipient of university-wide or college teaching award.

The Department of History offers courses in Ancient, Medieval and Modern European history, including Russian history; in both North and Latin American history; in the history of East Asia; and in world history. Some of the department’s courses are chronological, some national or regional and some are thematic, with special strengths in gender, race and ethnicity, popular culture, medicine and urban history. The faculty is committed to continuous review and revision of the department curriculum, as student needs and professional emphases shift. Many departmental courses meet general education requirements, and various programs for majors and non-majors are available.

The department offers an honors program for qualified seniors. Honors programs are individually arranged through consultation with the honors director, and completion of an honors thesis is required.

The Department of History offers the B.A., a minor, the M.A. and Ph.D. in History.

The department sponsors its own local chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Phi Alpha Theta provides opportunities for students to take their interest in history beyond the classroom and to cultivate their intellectual pursuits in a community setting.

Membership is open to history majors and other interested students with a 3.33 GPA in history courses and a 3.0 overall GPA. For more information contact the honors director.

All history department majors should consult with the department student advisor. Students should seek an appointment early in each semester so that an advisement file may be established for each student. The file will be kept current.

Ten courses in history are required, three at the lower division level and six at the upper division level along with HIST 300 Approaches to History. The three required lower division courses must include one from the 100 level and one from the 200 level, and each of the three must be from a different geographic category. The department will accept scores of 4 or 5 on either Advanced Placement European History or Advanced Placement American History as a substitute for one requirement at the 100 level. At the upper division, majors are required to take a minimum of three courses in a thematic, temporal or geographic concentration they articulate under the guidance of faculty; they must also take at least two upper division seminars, approved by the department, including one in their concentration. No more than 4 units of HIST 490 Directed Research may be counted as satisfying the upper division seminar requirement.

For geographic breadth, at least one of the 10 courses must be taken from approved course work in each of the three following areas: Asia and Eurasia, Europe, and North and Latin America. For temporal breadth, at least one of the 10 courses must be taken from approved course work in each of the three following time periods: before 1300, 1300 to 1800, 1800 to the present. Students must consult with a department advisor in order to determine which courses meet these requirements.

See Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

See Department of Political Science.

The major objective of the graduate program in history is to provide advanced training in the methods and techniques of historical research and writing leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. The department offers specialization in numerous and diversified fields which are normally defined according to regions, nation states, themes (social, economic, etc.), and time periods.

An applicant should normally have an undergraduate or master’s degree in history or a related discipline, but promising students in other fields will also receive consideration. An interest in acquiring historical knowledge and pursuing historical research is often as important in admission decisions as prior training.

All applicants must take the general test of the Graduate Record Examinations; the subject test in history is not required. At least three letters of recommendation from college-level instructors and a sample of written work from a college-level history, social science, or humanities course should be submitted to the Director of the Graduate Program, Department of History.

For complete information on master’s and doctoral programs, prospective applicants should address inquiries to the Director of the Graduate Program, Department of History, SOS 254, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034.

These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to the Requirements for Graduation section and the Graduate School for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degrees must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.

The degree may be either terminal or one achieved in progress toward the Ph.D.

Students are required to demonstrate competence in one foreign language, with the exception that none is required of majors in United States history.

All students must enroll in HIST 500 Introduction to Graduate Historical Studies and HIST 601 Introductory Core Seminar, and it is recommended that they be completed in the first year of residence.

Students must take a minimum of six graduate courses, including HIST 500 and HIST 601 plus HIST 594ab Master’s Thesis. No more than two 400-level courses may count toward this total. A thesis must be written and defended.

This plan requires the approval of the student’s guidance committee chair to substitute a comprehensive examination for the thesis. If approved, the student completes eight graduate level courses, including 500 and 601, with no more than two 400-level courses counting toward this total, plus written exams in three fields, one of which may be in another department. Examinations are normally offered in October and April. An oral examination may be given at the discretion of the guidance committee. Examinations are graded on an honors, pass or fail basis. Any student who receives a grade of fail in two examinations is considered as not having qualified for the degree. A student who receives one fail must retake an examination in that field at the next scheduled examination period. An examination cannot be retaken more than once.

Students are required to demonstrate competence in two foreign languages to be selected in consultation with the guidance committee. The language requirement for the M.A. degree may be applied toward the Ph.D. Students in United States or Latin American history may substitute a program in computer or statistical research skills for one of the languages. The requirements in this category must be met before a student is eligible to take the qualifying examinations.

HIST 500 and 601 are required of all doctoral students, and it is recommended that they be completed in the first year of residence. Two 600-level graduate seminars in addition to 601 are required for the degree. Members of the student’s guidance committee may also specify the completion of certain courses in order to prepare for the qualifying examinations. Competence in broad areas and fields is determined by qualifying examinations, for which two years of full-time course work, or eight courses, is considered the minimal preparation time.

The performance of every doctoral student is formally evaluated by the full faculty of the History Department, normally at the end of the spring semester and before a student has completed 24 units toward the degree. Unsatisfactory progress toward the degree requires either remedy of the deficiencies or termination of the student’s graduate program. After successfully passing the screening procedures, each student establishes a guidance committee which then supervises preparation for the qualifying examination.

Students seeking the Ph.D. will select four area-fields, one of which will be outside the Department of History, for examination. This allows students both to broaden their historical training and to obtain a background that is helpful for them as teachers once they obtain their degree. Competence in these area-fields is determined by comprehensive examinations, and not in terms of particular courses previously taken. In preparing for the qualifying examination, a student is permitted to repeat a seminar in the field of the dissertation upon the approval of the guidance committee. Qualifying examinations are normally offered in October and April. Examinations are graded honors, pass, low-pass or fail. The qualifying examination has two phases: written examinations in each field followed by a single oral examination on all four fields. Students with one fail, a low-pass in their dissertation field, or more than two low-pass grades on the written examinations will not be permitted to enter the oral phase of the examination process. The guidance committee determines whether the candidate may retake any exams graded low-pass or fail.

At the end of the oral examination, students cannot be advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree with more than one dissenting vote, which must not be in the dissertation field. The guidance committee determines whether students with more than one dissenting vote will be allowed to retake the failed examinations or be dropped from the program.

A student must wait at least six, but not more than nine, months to retake examinations. An examination in any given field cannot be retaken more than once.

After passing the qualifying examination, a student is admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree and will thereafter concentrate on the dissertation. The subject is selected in consultation with the guidance committee and approved by it. After students become candidates for the Ph.D. degree, they must register for HIST 794 Doctoral Dissertation each semester thereafter until the dissertation is completed.

Students should seek advice on their program of studies from the Director of the Graduate Program, the professor in their major field of study, and other members of their guidance committee.