Welcome to Georgetown’s Ph.D. program in History! We are a top-notch program with strengths in multiple fields, and we encourage students with interests that span geographical regions, time periods, and thematic foci. Our alumni have gone on to distinguished careers as historians in and out of the academy.
Our Ph.D. program has much to offer. In addition to the attention of a distinguished and award-winning History faculty, our students benefit from Georgetown’s many regional studies programs and intellectual centers, where interdisciplinary activity is prized. Opportunities for language training abound. No city has greater resources for historians than Washington, D.C.: the Library of Congress, the National Archives, the National Library of Medicine, the Folger Shakespeare Library, and many other institutions hold an unparalleled wealth of research material.
Our doctoral program is collegial and collaborative, with a vibrant intellectual life. Outside of class, students participate in seminars and conferences along with faculty, share in the activities of our Institute for Global History, grow through professional development workshops, and socialize with each other when the academic day is over. It’s a fun place to be a serious historian.
Modality
On Campus
Program URL
https://history.georgetown.edu/programs/doctoral/
Academic Policies
The academic policies and procedures of the Ph.D. program in History outlined in the department handbook and the University Bulletin.
Joint Programs
The Ph.D. in History can be completed in tandem with master’s programs in other areas at the university. Information regarding these programs can be found in the following resource.
Program Requirements
Students must complete 36 credit hours of graduate coursework, along with taking the Core Colloquium course (HIST 5001) 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. With the exception of students focusing on United States history, doctoral students must demonstrate competence in two foreign languages relevant to their research. Students specializing in U.S. history must demonstrate competence in one foreign language.
Comprehensive Examinations
Our Comprehensive Exams are intended to prepare students to teach in their specialties and launch them towards their dissertation research. Doctoral students take their exams in the spring semester of their second year.
Ph.D. students at Georgetown prepare three fields: a Major field, a Research field within the Major, and a separate Minor field. While the Major field must be one of our formal fields of study, students have a great deal of leeway and creative license to determine their other two fields. This flexibility is a hallmark of our program of study.
Students will prepare: (a) a historiographical essay in the Major field; (b) a research readiness proposal/research plan in the Research field, and (c) a portfolio project in the Minor field. Passing the written work qualifies a student to move on to a two-hour oral exam. Passing the oral exam qualifies the student to file a dissertation proposal.
Dissertation
Writing a great dissertation is the goal of every student’s doctoral training. After passing their comprehensive exams, students form a dissertation committee, write a dissertation proposal, and move forward on their research. Ideally, students spend their third/fourth year doing archival research and their fifth year writing their dissertations.
