UWM College of Letters and Science
College of Letters and Science Faculty Document No. 604
November 1, 2001

2000-2001
Recommendation of the Graduate Program Committee and the Faculty of the Department of History for Authorization to Implement the Doctor of Philosophy in History Degree Program


  1. PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION


    2. 1.1 Title of Proposed Program: Ph.D. in History
    1.2 Department or Functional Equivalent: History
    1.3 College, School, or Functional Equivalent: College of Letters and Science
    1.4 Timetable for Initiation: Fall 2002-2003

  2. CONTEXT


    3. 2.1 History of the Program:

    The Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has offered master's degrees since 1960. The master's program is currently the largest in the College of Letters and Science, with about 60 students enrolled, which makes it one of the largest master's-only programs in history in the United States.

    Over the past twenty-five years, faculty from the History Department have developed extensive expertise in Ph.D.-level education. In 1977, some History faculty members joined with faculty members in Urban Affairs and Sociology to initiate a Ph.D. in Urban Social Institutions. That program, now entitled the Ph.D. in Urban Studies, regularly graduates one to five students per year, most of whom go on to jobs in government, social services, and private industry. Many members of the Department of History offer courses, direct doctoral theses, and serve on doctoral committees in Urban Studies. Some also teach regularly in the Modern Studies track within the Department of English Ph.D., and frequently serve on doctoral committees in that program. History Department faculty members also have served on doctoral committees in other departments at UWM, including Geography, Anthropology, and Urban Education.

    The preliminary entitlement to plan a Ph.D. in History originally was written in 1992, after the evaluation of the department's graduate program in 1989 affirmed that the department easily could support a Ph.D. The original plan proposed two concentrations, Urban History and Modern Studies, that would connect the History Ph.D. with two well-established Ph.D. programs on campus and would emphasize areas in which UWM has long had strengths. The entitlement received approval of all campus committees in 1994; for the next three years it underwent revisions aimed as addressing concerns of UW-System and the History Department at UW-Madison. The evaluation of the UWM History Department's graduate program in 2000 urged even more strongly the establishment of a Ph.D. program (this was the outside evaluators' number one recommendation), and in late 2000 the department was granted permission to develop a request for authorization to implement the program. Since the preliminary plan first was drafted, changes in departmental personnel, the needs of the program's target audience, the mission statement of UWM, and the historical profession itself suggested that a third concentration, Global History, should be added to the two proposed in the original request for an entitlement to plan, and UW-system administrators agreed to this modification.

    In addition to recommending the establishment of a Ph.D. program, the program's evaluators in 2000 made several other recommendations that since have been adopted. They recommended the authorization of additional faculty lines, and in 2001 the department will have six new faculty members, some of whom will have joint appointments in Urban Studies or in UWM's new Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies, and who, therefore, will fit well with the proposed History Ph.D. (The six new hires, combined with two retirements, results in a net gain of four faculty lines. The Department anticipates an additional gain of one faculty line though searches undertaken in 2001-2002.) The evaluators recommended further that the Ph.D. proposal take advantage of the department's strengths in Public History, and that field has been integrated into the proposed Ph.D. program as a minor. Students electing this focus will combine research skills with specific training in archives, museums, or historic preservation.
    2.2 Instructional Setting:

    The Program will be housed in UWM's History Department, which, in the fall of 2001, will have thirty tenured or tenure-track faculty with full or partial appointments in History. (Several of these individuals who have just been appointed will not join the department until 2002 because they have research fellowships elsewhere in 2001-2002.) The department regularly enrolls approximately 2700 students per semester in fifty different courses, and it has about one hundred majors. Faculty in the department are involved in nearly every interdisciplinary endeavor in the College, and they head a number of them, including the Comparative Study of Religion Major, Certificate Programs in Asian Studies and in French and Francophone Studies, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Center for Economic Development. Thus, many of the department's faculty members have considerable experience in handling the kinds of interdisciplinary connections that are a significant feature of the History Ph.D. program. The department is extremely productive in terms of research and publishing; faculty members have won major research awards, including Guggenheim, Woodrow Wilson, Fulbright, ACLS, and NEH fellowships.
    2.3 Relation to Mission Statement and Academic Plan:

    The Ph.D. program accords extremely well with UWM's mission, as outlined in the "Core Mission of the UWS Doctoral Cluster" and the "Select Mission of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee." In particular, the program addresses the goals of "developing and maintaining high quality graduate programs appropriate to a major urban doctoral university," "continuing development of a balanced array of high quality doctoral programs in basic disciplines and professional areas," and "promoting public service and research efforts directed toward meeting the social, economic, and cultural needs of the State of Wisconsin and its metropolitan areas." The program also relates to many aspects of the Milwaukee Idea, Chancellor Nancy Zimpher's articulation of the ways in which UWM will use its resources to enhance the Milwaukee metropolitan area. A major component of the Milwaukee Idea is teacher training, which involves not only graduating excellent beginning teachers, but also offering programs that allow teachers to continue their education and intellectual enhancement; such opportunities have a great impact on teacher retention, which has been identified as a significant issue in the greater Milwaukee area. The proposed concentrations in the History Ph.D. also articulate with other components of the Milwaukee Idea. The research of students in the Urban History concentration may link with the Consortium for Economic Opportunity, one goal of which is to integrate "real-world economic issues" into the curriculum. Students in the Global History component will contribute research of significance to the Global Passport Project, one goal of which is "strengthening the international content of the curriculum."

  3. NEED


    4. 3.1 Comparable Programs in Wisconsin:

    There currently are two history doctoral programs in Wisconsin; they are located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at Marquette University. The program at UW-Madison is a highly ranked program offering degrees in most historical fields, and it draws from an international pool of students. It is designed for traditional-age, full-time students and offers almost all of its classes during the day. In 1999-2000, it enrolled 217 full-time students and only four part-time students. Marquette University has a smaller program, with 56 students enrolled at all levels, that offers a Ph.D. in early modern and modern European history and in US social and political history. Developed for full-time students, it offers all classes during the day. UWM's History Ph.D. targets students who already are in the work force; its classes will be offered in the late afternoon and early evening. (This pattern has been successful for the History master's program, which also is an evening-only program.) The UWM program thus will offer potential students in the most populous part of the state an opportunity for Ph.D. education not currently met by either of the State's other history Ph.D. programs. The three concentrations in UWM's History Ph.D., each with significant interdisciplinary connections, are completely different from those offered at Marquette. The minor in Public History, capitalizing on a strength of the UWM History Department, is not available at either UW-Madison or Marquette. Most graduates of the UWM History Ph.D. will follow career paths that either will be a continuation of an established teaching or professional career or will focus on public history. These emphases do not compete with the established programs in Wisconsin.
    3.2 Comparable Programs Outside Wisconsin:

    Minnesota has only one history doctoral program, located at the University of Minnesota. This highly-ranked program in 1999-2000 enrolled 137 full-time and no part-time students. Most of the several doctoral programs in the greater Chicago area (e.g., those at Loyola, Northwestern, and the University of Chicago) also are designed for full-time residential students. The University of Illinois at Chicago does enroll a significant number of part-time students (51 full-time, 65 part-time, including master's students), as does Northern Illinois University in DeKalb (42 full time, 23 part-time, including master's students), but neither of these offers the Ph.D. with concentrations in the areas envisioned for UWM. Among the Urban 13, in addition to UIC, the University of Cincinnati, Georgia State University, the University of Houston, the University of Memphis, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, City University of New York, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of New Orleans, Temple University, the University of Toledo, and Wayne State University also offer history Ph.D. programs.

    Across the country, a few universities are beginning to develop programs that in some ways are comparable to the program proposed at UWM. Most notable among them is George Mason University, which, in 2000, established a new Ph.D. program for students who already are launched on careers and who want a doctoral degree to further their professional goals. Like the proposed program at UWM, the doctoral program at George Mason offers much of its curriculum in the evenings or with other types of flexible scheduling. It is designed to be quite small so that students receive a great deal of close supervision and individualized attention from their advisors. Additionally, the program at George Mason offers training in Public History for students who plan or are already involved in careers in museums, archives, historical preservation, and editing.
    3.3 Regional, State, and National Needs:

    The UWM History Ph.D. primarily addresses regional and state needs rather than those at the national level. One of its key markets will be social studies teachers at both the secondary school and junior college levels, who already form a significant share of the department's master's students. A typical student might be a high school social studies teacher or coordinator who is looking to advance in educational administration but who prefers to develop subject matter expertise through the history Ph.D. rather than seeking a doctorate in Education. The department regularly receives queries about advanced programs of study from teachers in southeastern Wisconsin who already have a master's degree. To assess this market more systematically, in Spring 2001 the department sent a questionnaire to several lists of elementary and secondary social studies teachers in Wisconsin maintained by the social studies coordinator at the UWM School of Education informing them that UWM is seeking authorization for the history Ph.D. The results of this mailing were astounding; of the roughly 800 people on the lists, 146 responded indicating an interest in the program. The academic preferences of these respondents are quite evenly divided among the three concentrations, with most people noting that they are more interested in the program for advancement in their present careers or for personal intellectual development than to enable them to change careers. Some of the responses included very enthusiastic comments. A teacher from Elkhorn, for example, wrote: "I appreciate your considering opening up such a program. The need for advanced degree work opportunities is great for those of us with regular, locked-in-schedule jobs." Since the questionnaire was distributed, the department also has received calls and personal visits from several people wondering when they could begin the program, and several letters from principals and other administrators adding their support. Some of these are people who began Ph.D. programs elsewhere, but have since relocated to Milwaukee or find their needs and interests would be better met by a program such as this. It is also clear that this interest is not limited to Wisconsin; at a recent world history workshop for high school AP teachers held in California, the current chair of the History Department mentioned the proposed program, and several teachers from the Chicago area asked to be added to the list of those kept informed, as there is no evening-only history Ph.D. program in global history available in the Chicago area.

    The continuing educational needs of social studies teachers were significant considerations in the decision to add the Global History concentration. Since the original request was submitted in 1992, the historical profession has begun to reconceptualize its national and regional frameworks, placing more emphasis on comparative, international, and global developments. Over the past fifteen years, Global History has emerged as a major new emphasis in the profession. The global approach stresses common features of historical processes (e.g. in diplomatic, military, political, economic, and social matters), challenging the earlier strong emphasis on the nation-state. More recently, American historians have begun to explore the potentially transformative impact of global history on their own field. In 1996, the Organization of American History established the Project on Internationalizing the Study of American History, a multi-year initiative under the leadership of Professor Thomas Bender from New York University, which in 2000 issued the La Pietra report calling for contextualizing the teaching of U.S. history on a global scale. This change has been recognized by the Advanced Placement Program, which, beginning in 2000, added world history to its selection of exams, which formerly were available only in U.S. and in European history. In addition, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction now mandates courses in world history for all social studies teachers. High schools in the Milwaukee metropolitan area that offer Advanced Placement history courses are embracing world history. As a result, the AP history teachers generally are those most likely to seek advanced degrees. UWM's program will prepare Ph.D. students to serve this particular demand.

    Another significant market for the program will be among people interested in or already working within the field of Public History, in such areas as archives, museums, historic preservation, historical editing, public policy, and private historical consulting. UWM's Public History program, which in 1977 began under the rubric of Applied History, regularly graduates about four or five MA students per year. These graduates have been extremely successful in gaining employment at historical institutions around the country, with the majority of those graduating in the last ten years now employed in a position directly related to their Public History MA. As with many other organizations and professional fields, these institutions are in a process of professionalization, requiring ever-more advanced levels of skill for entry-level and higher positions. Thus a program that combines the sophisticated historical skills acquired when researching and writing a doctoral dissertation with the more specialized and technical skills offered in our Public History program will prepare students better for these changing expectations.

    The department's courses in Public History already include a significant component of information technology, preparing students to present information, develop exhibits, and handle a range of other skills associated with the Internet and the Web. This clearly will be an area of growth in the future, and people with a sophisticated combination of skills in new media and history will be attractive to public institutions, such as museums and archives, as well as to commercial outlets for popular history. Skills in information technology also increasingly are demanded of secondary school social studies teachers and of those who develop multi-media projects for the school and college market, ranging from children's CD-ROMs such as The Oregon Trail to CD-ROM and Web packets that now form a part of every textbook offering. Given the speed of change in information technology and the media, it is difficult to predict exactly what types of jobs will be open for historians in these areas in the future, but the success of the History Channel and the prevalence of historical programming on other cable networks indicates that the market is a steady one.

    A few of the new Ph.D. students may be interested in pursuing jobs in college and university teaching. There certainly are more people receiving Ph.D.s in history each year than there are teaching jobs, though the market has brightened somewhat in the past few years. According to statistics published in the American Historical Association's newsletter Perspectives in December 2000, the number of jobs advertised increased more than 35 percent during the period 1996 to 2000 and was about double that of the mid-1980s. Forty percent of full-time history faculty around the country now are over 55 years of age, and the prospects for replacing those faculty are better than they were a decade ago. Even given these optimistic assumptions, however, the program is not envisioned primarily to supply teachers at the college and university level, though there may well be one or two people a year who seek such employment. These students will be able to take advantage of the Preparing Future Faculty program offered on campus through the Center for Instructional and Professional Development. This program provides them with mentoring while they are teaching courses on a part-time basis either at UWM or at other colleges in southeast Wisconsin.

    In addition to the more easily-identified markets of teachers and those involved in public history, the program will attract individuals currently employed in a range of occupations in the metropolitan Milwaukee area who wish to fulfill personal intellectual or career goals. While employers are unlikely to demand a Ph.D. in history, many require additional education for advancement, and they recognize the benefits to their employees of broad learning in addition to training in specific skills. One individual employed in the private sector in Milwaukee, in fact, currently is working on a Ph.D. in urban history, a program he developed through the Multidisciplinary Committee-directed Ph.D. offered at UWM.

    People who already have received their master's degree from UWM are expected to constitute a large share of the students in the new Ph.D. program. In 1992, UWM History Master's graduates from 1982 to 1992 were surveyed; 48 of 142 graduates (34 percent) indicated that they had pursued a Ph.D., two in urban studies, the remainder in history. Two-thirds of the students who pursued a Ph.D. at another institution (N=32) indicated that they might have remained at UWM if a history Ph.D. program had been available. Another ten graduates who did not pursue the doctoral degree indicated they would have done so had there been a program at UWM. For these students, the absence of a Ph.D. in History at UWM effectively ended their graduate studies. These data suggest that about 30 percent of UWM's History Master's graduates might be interested in pursuing a UWM History Ph.D. This year, currently enrolled students were surveyed; ten indicated they might be interested in continuing in a Ph.D. program.

    3.4 Student Demand--Future Enrollment:

    Based on the results of the questionnaires and on inquiries directed to the department, it is anticipated that there will be qualified applicants as soon as the Ph.D. program is approved. Enrollment estimates for the first five years are as follows:

      2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
    first year class 5 5 6 7 7
    second year class     5 5 7
    third year class     4 4 5
    fourth year class       4 4
    fifth year class         3
    total 5 10 14 20 27

    Students enrolled as full-time students in History Ph.D. programs often take four years beyond the master's to complete their degrees, so it is likely that only one or two students will complete the degree within the first five years the program is offered. After that, three to five students are expected to complete the degree in any year, a number similar to that of the Urban 13 and other comparable institutions that offer Ph.D.s in History.
    3.5 Collaborative Program Exploration:

    Discussions involving members of various departments--including history--at Marquette and UWM, as well as the deans of the graduate schools at these two institutions, have led this year to a Memorandum of Understanding establishing a Cooperative Graduate Student Exchange Program. This allows graduate students enrolled in one school to take courses at the other without having to make special arrangements, as long as these courses are not offered at the student's home institution. This arrangement works very well for history, for the two programs are complementary, not overlapping. Marquette has a very traditional program, offering daytime courses organized along national and chronological lines, while UWM offers evening courses that generally are organized thematically. It is expected that this option will be open to UWM's Ph.D. students as well, just as it now is available for Ph.D. students at Marquette. This Memorandum encourages faculty at both institutions to participate on doctoral dissertation committees when this is appropriate, which will expand the base of expertise available for Ph.D. students at UWM.

  4. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION


    5. 4.1 Objectives:

    In all three concentrations, students will gain a solid historical foundation, including the ability to master a body of historical knowledge through research, to analyze materials, and to write in an effective and professional manner. They will learn how to formulate research problems and to design research strategies in the discipline of history, and, through seminars and colloquia, they will learn to test and defend their ideas in a community of scholars. They will learn how to produce original scholarly work, prepared at a level suitable for publication or other forms of public dissemination. They will gain substantial knowledge of the availability and use of new computer and media technologies, and their practical applications in the field of history. Depending on their learning and professional goals, they will acquire enhanced skills applicable to teaching, public history, or other postgraduate careers.
    4.2 Curriculum:

    Admission

    An applicant must meet Graduate School admission requirements, hold a master's degree in history or a related field, and submit the following materials to be considered for admission:
    • three letters of recommendation from persons familiar with the applicant's academic work;
    • a sample of the applicant's written work that demonstrates the applicant's ability to conduct independent historical research and/or the ability to analyze critically the work of others;
    • a letter of intent outlining the applicant's reasons for graduate study;
    • GRE scores;
    • undergraduate and graduate transcripts.
    Course of Study

    To earn the Ph.D., a student must have accumulated at least 54 graduate credits, at least 30 of them taken at the post-master's level. Precise numbers of credits and actual course requirements while in Ph.D. status will be determined after a review of the applicant's previous coursework. Doctoral students may not accumulate more than 6 credits in U/G courses nor more than 6 credits in independent study without the approval of the History Department's Director of Graduate Studies. Of the 54 credits, at least 9 must be in fields other than history. No more than 18 credits in courses outside of History may be counted toward the doctoral degree.

    Doctoral Concentration

    Students applying to the History doctoral program must indicate their preference for one of the following doctoral concentrations: Urban History, Global History, Modern Studies. The Director of Graduate Studies provides initial advising for the student in selecting courses as well as a Major Professor for long-term advising; he or she may assign a provisional graduate advisor before the student selects a Major Professor. Although a doctoral student may change concentrations, such changes require approval by the Director of Graduate Studies and may require a substantial amount of additional coursework. The following list of courses includes those taken at both the master's and doctoral level; with the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, some of these requirements may be met by work from previous institutions.

    Courses Required For All Concentrations

    History 712   Historiography and Theory of History (3 credits)
    History 713 Historical Research Methods (3 credits)
    History 716 Professional and Pedagogical Issues in History (3 credits)
    History 717 History and the New Media (3 credits)
    History 980 Dissertation research (6 credits minimum)
    12 credits electives (may include additional dissertation credits)

    Urban History Concentration

    Urb Std 980 Growth of Urban Society (3 credits)
    Colloquia and seminars in urban history, and other appropriate seminars and colloquia in history and related disciplines (21 credits)

    Global History Concentration

    History 839 Approaches to Global History (3 credits)
    Colloquia and seminars in global history, and other appropriate seminars and colloquia in history and related disciplines (21 credits)

    Modern Studies Concentration

    English/History/MAFLL 740 or 741   Backgrounds of Modernism I or II (3 credits)
    Colloquia and seminars in modern history, and other appropriate seminars and colloquia in history and related disciplines (21 credits)

    Advising

    Students are required to consult periodically with, and have their schedules approved by, the Director of Graduate Studies, their provisional advisor, or their Major Professor. The Major Professor helps the student to define a topic for the dissertation, and assists the student in choosing appropriate courses and in selecting members of the student's Preliminary Examination and Doctoral Committees. The Major Professor normally chairs the student's Preliminary Examination and Doctoral Committees.

    Foreign Language or Data Analysis Proficiency

    Students must demonstrate proficiency in one or more relevant foreign languages by passing a written examination in the translation of source materials or historical analysis. If a student's Major Professor considers proficiency in more than one language necessary to the student's specific plan of study, exams in more than one language may be required.

    If approved by the Major Professor, students may substitute proficiency in data analysis or another skill relevant to historical study, such as Global Information Systems analysis, for proficiency in a foreign language; in these cases, proficiency will be demonstrated through relevant course work in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or geography.

    Minor

    Students are not required to elect a minor field, but they may wish to supplement their major in this way. Depending on the exact course array, students may need to take more than 54 credits to complete both the major and minor requirements. Those who wish to take a minor have three options:

    Option A: Minor in one field

    Working with a minor professor, students will take 8-12 credits in a single department, leading to a minor examination.

    Option B: Interdisciplinary Minor

    Students will take 8-12 credits in two or more departments, selected for their relevance to the student's area of concentration. The minor will be developed in consultation with the student's Major Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies.

    Option C: Minor in Public History

    This minor is appropriate for students planning a career in archives, museums, historic preservation, or other related specialties. It is not available to students who already have a specialization or degree in public history at the master's level. All students in this minor are required to take 12 credits in the following:
      History 700 Introduction to Public History (3 credits);
      History 701 Internship in Public History (6 credits);
      History 715 Research Methods in Local History (3 credits);
    Students must take History 700 in the first semester of their first year at UWM. The remaining 9 credits in public history must be selected from courses that pertain to the area of public history in which the student wishes to specialize.

    For students interested in careers as archivists, 6 of the 9 credits of electives should be in the following courses:
      History 775 Modern Archives Administration (3 credits) and
      History 777 Seminar in Modern Archives Administration (3 credits).
    These two courses and the internship credits fulfill the Society of American Archivists' new course requirements for accreditation.

    Students interested in careers in museums are advised to take at least three of the following courses:
      Anthropology 720 History and Theory of Museums (3 credits);
      Anthropology 721 Administration and Organization of Museums (3 credits);
      Anthropology 722 Museum Exhibits (3 credits);
      Anthropology 723 Museum Curation (3 credits).
    Students interested in careers in historic preservation are advised to take at least three of the following:
      Architecture 560 Introduction to Historic Preservation (3 credits);
      Architecture 760 History of Building Architecture (3 credits);
      Architecture 835 Studies in Architectural History and Precedent: (Historic Preservation) (3 credits);
      Architecture 531 Historic Concepts of Architecture (3 credits);
      Architecture 533 Vernacular Buildings and Groupings (3 credits).
    Doctoral Preliminary Examination

    The doctoral preliminary examination is an intensive exploration of the student's field of study. It must be taken within five years of enrollment in the Ph.D. program. The preliminary examination involves two components:
    1. a written component within the student's area of concentration, and
    2. a subsequent oral component.
    Students who fail the doctoral preliminary examination may not proceed to the dissertation. The exam may be retaken only once. See the Director of Graduate Studies for specific guidelines for selecting the Doctoral Preliminary Examination Committee and preparing the doctoral preliminary examination proposal.

    Dissertation

    The dissertation is a major piece of original research representing a substantial contribution to historical scholarship, for which the first step is submission of a prospectus. In consultation with the Major Professor, the student chooses a dissertation committee, which will approve the prospectus. The student's Major Professor provides guidance in submitting the prospectus and developing and writing the dissertation.

    Dissertation Defense

    As the final step toward the degree, the candidate must pass an oral examination in defense of the dissertation.

    Time Limit and Residence

    All degree requirements must be completed within ten years from the date of initial enrollment in the doctoral program. To meet the continuous-year portion of the residence credit requirement, students must complete 8 to 12 graduate credits in each of two consecutive semesters, or 6 or more graduate credits in each of three consecutive semesters, exclusive of summer sessions. In exceptional cases, modifications of the residence requirement may be requested, subject to the approval of the History Department and the Graduate School.

    New Courses Developed for this Program:

    History 716 Professional and Pedagogical Issues in History (3 credits). This course will introduce students to a range of issues involved in teaching, researching, writing, and working in history, including grant-writing, teaching techniques, course development, professional expectations, and specialized writing skills.
    History 717 History and the New Media (3 credits). This course will investigate the application of new technology and new media to the study, presentation, and teaching of history, including a history of the new media, theories of hypertext, and critical evaluation of the prospects. Students will create original historical projects in digital media.
    History 740 Backgrounds of Modernism I (3 credits). This course currently is jointly-offered in the Department of English and the Master's in Foreign Language and Literature curricular areas, but members of the History Department often teach it. History will become a third partner in this joint offering, approving the course in the History curricular area so that students may take it in the curricular area appropriate to their programs. The course description will remain unchanged: A study of the major figures and intellectual forces that have shaped the history of Modernism, from the 19th century to approximately the end of World War I.
    History 741 Background of Modernism II (3 credits). The status of this course is identical to that of History 740. The course description reads: The major figures and intellectual forces that have shaped the history of modernism and post-modernism from the end of World War I through the present.
    History 839 Approaches to Global History (3 credits). This course will serve as a general introduction for all students enrolled in the global history concentration, focusing on the issues involved in researching and teaching from a global, transnational, or comparative perspective.
    History 980 Dissertation Research (3 credits). Retakable.
    History 989 Doctoral Level Independent Work (1-3 credits). Retakable to 6 cr max.

    4.3 Interrelationship with Other Curricula:

    As noted above, the program clearly will build on existing strengths in a number of programs at UWM and will have a strong interdisciplinary component. The Urban History concentration will involve connections with faculty members in Urban Studies and Sociology, but it will differ from the doctorate in Urban Studies in its more intense focus on the methodologies of historical scholarship and on historiographical literature. The Modern Studies concentration will involve connections with faculty members in English, Philosophy, and the Center for 21st Century Studies, a UW-System Center of Excellence established in 1968 to conduct advanced research in the humanities. It will offer students interested in topics such as poststructuralism, feminism, social and political theory, modernism and postmodernism, and mass culture the opportunity to approach these issues from a more clearly historical perspective. The Global History concentration will involve connections with faculty members from many departments who are affiliated with the Center for International Education, the recently-reorganized home for international programs and research at UWM. Currently, UWM students interested in international connections normally pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science; the Global History concentration will offer them the possibility of grounding their research within history.
    4.4 Method of Assessment or Evaluation:

    The evaluation of a doctoral program is a long-term endeavor; it will be a minimum of four years before the program has any graduates, and ten years before there are any graduates in significant numbers. Nevertheless, it is important that assessment of the program be built into it from the outset. Assessment will be conducted in three different ways:
    1. Self-assessment: Every three years the department's Graduate Affairs committee and the Director of Graduate Studies will do a self-assessment of program.
    2. Student assessment: All students who complete the program will be asked to complete a confidential evaluation of the features of the program.
    3. Peer assessment: In accordance with UW-System, the program will be evaluated five years after it is launched, and thereafter according to the established timetable of graduate program evaluations.
    In all of these assessments, several key elements will be taken into account: the quality of work produced by the program's students and graduates, including print and on-line publications and presentations in public venues; the students' achievement of their learning and professional goals; and the quality and diversity of the students attracted to the program.
    4.5 Accreditation Requirements: Not Applicable
    4.6 Strengths or Unique Features:

    In addition to the features already highlighted - evening-only offerings, the possibility of part-time attendance, significant interdisciplinary connections - the program will be enhanced by the presence on campus of a unique scholarly resource, the American Geographical Society (AGS) collection, which is housed in the UWM Golda Meir Library. The scope of the collection is broad, encompassing all aspects of geography and cartography as well as selected facets of related disciplines such as history, anthropology, archaeology, sociology, demography, economics, geology, oceanography, meteorology, urban studies, travel, discovery, and exploration. Along with thousands of maps, it includes hundreds of thousands of periodical volumes and monographs, in particular numerous publications of national and local societies, professional and research organizations, universities, and other scholarly organizations that concentrate largely on research in specific areas. Students in all three concentrations will make use of the AGS collection, drawing on theoretical and applied scholarship that relates cartography to semiotics and spatial studies.
    4.7 Career Advising:

    History 716, Professional and Pedagogical Issues in History, is a required course that will cover a wide variety of issues that will be useful to students interested in careers or already working in jobs in education or other fields. The Department's faculty members have extensive experience in all aspects of academic work, from publication to administration, and they are well qualified to provide individualized advising for students who would like to teach in colleges and universities. History faculty members have good relationships with many faculty members in the School of Education, particularly those in the field of social studies education, who will assist in providing career advice for students.
    4.8 Outreach: Not applicable
    4.9 Integration of Technology:

    Many undergraduate and graduate courses taught by members of the department already use technology in a variety of ways, ranging from course assignments on the Web to PowerPoint presentations in the classroom. Computer technology is a particularly important aspect of History 595, Quantitative Techniques for Historical Study, one of the courses that Ph.D. students will be able to use to demonstrate their quantitative proficiency. History 716, Professional and Pedagogical Issues in History, will include discussion of technological issues in history related to research and teaching, and History 717, History and the New Media, will focus directly on the intersection between technology and history. Students receiving the History Ph.D. thus will have had a much greater opportunity to learn about and apply new media technology in their course work than those in most Ph.D. programs around the country, many of which do not require, or even offer, a course in basic teaching techniques. Familiarity with technology will be important particularly for those students working in the secondary schools, where the ability to use information technology in an innovative and effective manner is essential.
    4.10 Distance Education:

    Several members of the department have taught distance education classes involving students at UWM and UW-Madison. This clearly is a growth area, and several of the new courses being developed lend themselves well to delivery via distance education, particularly those relating to pedagogical issues and technology. Because many graduate programs in history do not offer such courses, they may be attractive to students enrolled elsewhere if they can be delivered in a satisfactory manner. Almost all of the 146 teachers who indicated an interest in the program said they would take courses on line if they were offered in this way, though some also commented that they find face-to-face learning more effective and that they have not been satisfied with on-line courses they have already taken from other institutions.
  5. PERSONNEL


    6. 5.1 Faculty Members Participating Directly in the Program:

    All members of the department who have attained the Ph.D. are members of the graduate faculty, and most teach graduate courses.

    Current Continuing Faculty and their Areas of Interest

    Professor Margo Anderson: US urban and social history, quantitative
    Associate Professor Mark Bradley: international history, Southeast Asia
    Professor David Buck: modern China, urban history
    Associate Professor Martha Carlin: medieval, Britain, urban, food, household technologies
    Associate Professor Michael Dintenfass: historiography
    Associate Professor Michael Gordon: labor, public history
    Professor Bruce Fetter: Africa, historical demography, maps
    Professor Victor Greene: ethnic and labor history, popular culture
    Assistant Professor Anne Hansen: Buddhism, religion, Southeast Asia
    Professor J. David Hoeveler: intellectual and religious history
    Professor Glen Jeansonne: 20th century United States, political history
    Associate Professor Marc Levine: urban history, Canada and Quebec
    Professor Jeffrey Merrick: France, intellectual and cultural, gender and sexuality
    Associate Professor Neal Pease: Poland, eastern Europe
    Professor Helena Pycior: science, intellectual history, women
    Associate Professor Lex Renda: 19th century United States, quantitative
    Associate Professor Joseph Rodriguez: minorities, urban history
    Professor Ronald Ross: Germany, modern social and political history
    Associate Professor Kristin Ruggiero: Latin America, Argentina; Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
    Associate Professor Sylvia Schafer: cultural history, modern France, feminist theory
    System University Professor John Schroeder: 19th century US, naval, maritime, diplomatic
    Assistant Professor Amanda Seligman: US urban and social history, public policy, community organizing
    Professor Philip Shashko: modern Russia and Balkans, intellectual history
    Professor Merry Wiesner-Hanks: Renaissance, women, Christianity, global

    Faculty Members Joining the Department in 2001 and their Areas of Interest:

    Assistant Professor Carlos Galvão-Sobrinho: Greek and Roman, Christianity
    Associate Professor Genevieve McBride: US women, popular culture, media
    Assistant Professor Aims McGuinness: global, Latin America

    Faculty Members Joining the Department in 2002 and their Areas of Interest:

    Associate Professor Carl Nightingale: US and global urban, comparative
    Assistant Professor Robert Self: US urban, social and economic
    Assistant Professor Baki Tezcan: Middle East, Islam
    5.2 Advisory faculty:

    All students will take at least three courses in other departments, so they will have contact with non-History faculty members. Faculty members outside of History may be part of a student's dissertation committee, as they currently do on M.A. committees and as History faculty members now serve on dissertation committees in other departments. The combination of courses and faculty members will be unique to each student.
    5.3 Additional faculty requirements:

    None
    5.4 Academic staff:

    The History Department currently does not have any full-time academic staff members, and none will be required for the program.
    5.5 Classified staff:

    The current classified staff members in the History Department will be assigned to the program, with the distribution of duties modified to fit the new needs. The department has three classified staff members: Louise Whitaker (PA IV), Anita Cathey (PA II), and Ernestine Rawls (PA I).

  6. ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES


    7. 6.1 Library Resources:

    The History Department has a departmental bibliographer and library representative who works with library staff to address department needs. As with other fields, the funds available for the purchase of books, serials, and other research materials in history have not kept pace with the rising costs of academic publications, so that many faculty members must rely on Interlibrary Loan for their research purposes. This also is true for students in the history master's program and will be true for students in the Ph.D. program. Faculty members can provide advice on the availability of resources for advanced research at the libraries of Marquette, UW-Madison, the State Historical Society, the University of Chicago, and the Newberry Library in Chicago. UWM is a member of the consortium associated with the Newberry Library, which provides reimbursement for travel and research expenses for faculty members and graduate students.

    6.2 Additional support resources:

    Members of the department make use of various computer labs and media-equipped classrooms in their teaching, and they will continue to do so in the Ph.D. program. The new course "History and the New Media" will be scheduled in an appropriately-equipped classroom. No additional special resources will be needed.

  7. FACILITIES - EQUIPMENT


    8. 7.1 Capital Resources:

    The department has sufficient office space to house its faculty members, TAs, and ad hoc lecturers. Our classroom space is adequate for traditional teaching methods, though our building, Holton Hall, is not equipped with media-ready classrooms, so that courses with media and information-technology needs are taught in other buildings. The Department receives no Red Book Capital Budget. Capital expenditures, which have primarily been computer equipment, have been met by the Associate Dean or by faculty out of their own pockets. Thanks to computer upgrades over the last several years, all faculty members now have Ethernet connections to the Alpha system and Web servers.
    7.2 Capital Budget Needs:

    No additional facilities required.
  8. FINANCE


    9. 8.1 Operating Budget Requirements:

    There are no additional budgetary requirements. The expansion of the History Department's faculty that has occurred this year provides the necessary resources to launch the Ph.D. program. Given the small size of the proposed Ph.D. program, students will largely be absorbed by excess capacity in existing courses, and student records will be maintained by the current office staff member responsible for the graduate program. New courses will be developed by current and new members of the department in the same way that other courses are developed; in fact, one new member of the department has already begun to develop the course in History and the New Media, as this is her area of expertise and it is a course that will be attractive to existing master's students in any case. The department does have brochures describing and advertising its programs, but most publicity and all applications are now handled on the web, and the department's webpage has been recently updated and can readily be revised once the program is approved. The department has developed an e-mail list of teachers and others who have indicated an interest in the program, and initial publicity will go out through this network, as well as the e-list of current and recently graduated M.A. students.
    8.2 Operating Budget Requirements - S&E:

    After many years with no increase in its S & E budget, the department received a slight increase per person this year. Because of the increasing size of the department's faculty over the next two years, the S & E also will increase correspondingly. For the projected modest size of the Ph.D. program, additional S & E will not be required.
    8.3 Operating Budget Reallocation:

    The department will have to reallocate budget to some degree in awarding Teaching Assistantships. Currently, 16 Teaching Assistantships at 50 percent are offered, and they are limited to two years for students enrolled in the general master's program and three years for students enrolled in the Public History program. The needs and employment situations of the department's Ph.D. students will require rethinking these limits and developing a new process for awarding teaching assistantships. Given the modest size of the program and the fact that the majority of the Ph.D. students probably will be employed elsewhere, it may not be necessary to award as many longer-term assistantships as in a traditional Ph.D. program. (The pay level of current TAs is significantly less than one can make working three days a week as a substitute teacher for the Milwaukee Public Schools, for which the basic requirement is a BA degree. Such employment does not, of course, provide the same intellectual value to the student as serving as a TA, but in monetary terms it is advantageous.) In addition, history Ph.D. students may be hired as ad hoc instructors in the department while they are working on their dissertations, thereby supported through the department's existing instructional budget. Master's students are not hired for this purpose because the department requires that ad hoc instructors be at the ABD level or hold a Ph.D.

    8.4 Extramural Research Support:

    Extramural resources coming to the department are largely in the form of grants to individuals, which, as is traditional in the humanities, do not bring in overhead and only rarely involve student assistants. The Graduate School provides extremely effective services for faculty members and students seeking outside funding; the students' advisors will work closely with Graduate School staff to direct history Ph.D. students to available research and dissertation grants. Some of these grants specifically target non-traditional and returning students, so that many history Ph.D. students will be appropriate candidates.

    Some members of the department currently are engaged in research that does receive extramural grants that carry overhead and utilize research assistants, particularly those faculty involved in research areas related to public policy. Such grants often focus on issues of urban development that may very well fit with the research interests and expertise of Ph.D. students in the Urban History concentration. Once Ph.D. level students are available to serve as assistants, faculty members will be able to compete more successfully for such grants and thereby support students in the program through such extramural monies.

    The department also plans to approach the Friends of History group and other potential donors for fellowships for Ph.D. students. Such targeted (and often named and endowed) funding often is attractive to outside donors; several UWM departments, including Geography and Physics, already have funds specifically-targeted for this purpose.


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