Krieger Hall

About the Graduate Program

General Description of the Program:

The Graduate Program in History at UCI offers students an exciting intellectual community most clearly defined by its commitment to cross-field dialogue among faculty and graduate students around shared research interests in the following topics or themes:
  • Transnational, colonial, and imperial histories
  • World History
  • Histories of science, technology, medicine, and the environment
  • The history of gender and sexuality
  • The history of religion
Graduate reading and research seminars foster cross-field dialogue by bringing together students from different areas of geographical and temporal expertise to learn a distinctive approach to graduate study. This approach combines rigorous theoretical study with the careful examination of documents, texts, interviews, and material evidence.

Specializations:

Medieval Europe, Early Modern Europe, Modern Europe, U.S., World, East Asia, South Asia, China, Japan, Latin America, Middle East, Ancient

Special Programs/Resources:

The UCI History Department is small enough to offer close attention to students' specific needs but large enough to function as an active research community. Students may take advantage of the Department's active emphasis on and training in writing for multiple publics; its programs in history pedagogy and connected K-12 outreach program, the UC Irvine History Project; and the department's growing expertise in the digital humanities. Students are also encouraged to broaden their horizons by participating in interdisciplinary emphases offered by different programs and departments on the UCI campus in Critical Theory, East Asian Studies, and Gender and Sexuality Studies. The relatively small size of the graduate program allows for close collaboration between students and faculty, allowing us to tailor individual programs of study to meet the student's interests and goals.

The Department is home to the Journal of Asian Studies.

Students and faculty also benefit from the proximity of major research collections, including The Huntington Library, The Getty Museum and Research Institute, The Clark Library, The National Archives and Records depository in Laguna Beach, the Nixon Presidential Library, and UCI Special Collections which has significant holdings in the Southeast Asian Archive, the Critical Theory Archive, and Orange County and California history.

Financial Aid:

All entering Ph.D. students receive five-year fellowship support packages, which include at least three quarters of TAships.

Requirements for Ph.D. Degree:

PhD students take 15 courses spread across 6 quarters during their first two years of study, including a two-quarter sequence in History and Theory, a two-quarter first year research seminar, a two-quarter second-year research seminar, and specialized courses in their particular research fields. During their third year, students demonstrate their competence in the languages necessary for their research, study for and complete an oral qualifying exam, and write and defend their dissertation prospectus. The final two to three years are dedicated to research and the completion of the dissertation.