Modality
On Campus
Program URL
https://cges.georgetown.edu/academics/mages/degree-options/mages-phd-history/
https://history.georgetown.edu/programs/doctoral/
At the conclusion of the two-year Master of Arts in European Studies (MAES) program, students will have acquired broad knowledge of European affairs, drawing on a range of disciplinary perspectives and their methodologies. They will have an appreciation and mastery of interdisciplinary analysis of European affairs, which entails among other things a capacity to interpret and apply theory within and across disciplines and to draw conclusions among discrete elements of a problem.
MAES graduates will have the ability to integrate academic and practical knowledge, and to demonstrate expertise in a self-designed area of European affairs. Students will acquire valuable skills in oral communication, critical writing, and original (including collaborative) research, and improve their mastery of two European languages. Taken together, their newly acquired proficiencies enable them to be informed participants in the transatlantic dialogue.
CGES and the Department of History offer a dual course of study leading to a MAES/Ph.D. in History. Dual degree students save roughly one year of taking course work by pursuing the two degrees simultaneously, while still receiving full preparation in both their discipline and in regional studies.
Academic Policies
Students in the European Studies and the History joint program are expected to comply with the polices outlined in the University Bulletin and History Department handbook.
Program Requirements
The curriculum includes a total of three years (60 credits) of course work drawn from MAES program and the Department of History. In the belief that the complexities of world affairs, no less than the demands of an academic career, recommend breadth in graduate education, this program is designed to provide a strong interdisciplinary foundation for more advanced, specialized work in European history.
Candidates complete all requirements for both the Ph.D. in History and the MAS degree requirements with the following variations:
- MAES free elective course work must be comprised of required courses from the Department of History.
- Students must pass their foreign language examination prior to taking departmental comprehensive examinations.
European Studies
Students must complete 42 credits of coursework, including the six core courses (18 credits) and 24 credits of free electives with a minimum grade point average of 3.000. Additionally, students are required to demonstrate oral proficiency in one European language other than English, pass an oral comprehensive exam, and complete a Capstone project to be presented at the MAGES Colloquium.
History
Students must complete 36 credit hours of graduate coursework, along with taking the Core Colloquium course and a two-semester research seminar sequence in their major fields. One course students take as part of their coursework must be a theory and/or methods class. Doctoral students must demonstrate competence in two foreign languages relevant to their research.
Required Examinations
European Studies
Students are required to pass an oral language proficiency exam in one European language, as well as an oral comprehensive exam at the conclusion of the program.
History
Comprehensive Examinations are administered during the third year of doctoral study and are intended to testa student’s knowledge and analytical ability in each of the three fields of study. The exams combine one written examination covering the major and research fields, one essay or portfolio of work with accompanying bibliography covering the minor field, and an oral examination covering all three fields.
Thesis Requirements
European Studies
While students do not write a traditional thesis, they are required to complete a research project during the Capstone course taken at the end of the program.
History
Once students have completed the comprehensive exams, they must form a Dissertation Committee who have special competence in the area or topic and who collectively can help with the theoretical, methodological, and empirical dimensions of the student’s research.
Students will spend at least two years researching and writing the dissertation. Results of the research will be presented at a public dissertation defense.
