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  • History – MA
See below for a description of our graduate program.

For more information on our graduate program, please contact our Graduate Coordinator.


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History, Master of Arts

The history graduate program provides students with cutting-edge training in historical and historiographical knowledge and professional debates. Our curriculum emphasizes the inevitable connections between the local and the global through small seminars and close faculty guidance of student scholarship. Our strengths in the U.S. West and Borderlands are complemented by expertise in theoretical and thematic fields such as gender, environment, and race.

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Requirements Accordion Open

  • To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. (Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units.)

    You must additionally complete:

    • All requirements for your specific academic plan(s). This may include a thesis.
    • All graduate work with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0.
    • All work toward the master’s degree must be completed within six consecutive years. The six years begins with the semester and year of admission to the program.
    Read the full policy.

     

Overview Accordion Closed

In addition to University Requirements:

  • Complete individual plan requirements.
Minimum Units for Completion36
Additional Admission RequirementsAdmission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
Fieldwork Experience/InternshipOptional
ThesisThesis may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Comprehensive ExamComprehensive Exam may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Oral DefenseOral Defense may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Foreign LanguageA foreign language may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
ResearchIndividualized research may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Progression Plan LinkView Program of Study
Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate PlanOptional

Purpose Statement

The Master of Arts in History offers a close professor-student relationship and is designed to prepare students to pursue careers in academia as well as the public and private sectors. These may include preparation for doctoral or other postgraduate degrees, teaching, public history, and public service. Our program strengths in the U.S. West and Borderlands are complemented by expertise in theoretical and thematic fields such as gender, environment, and race.

Each student will select a primary and a secondary field for in-depth examination and analysis from the following fields:  

  • Transregional and World
  • Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
  • Public History and Interpretation
  • Politics, Economy, and Culture
  • Indigeneity and Colonialism
  • Environment and Health
  • Borderlands and U.S. West

Many students select Public History and Interpretation as either a primary or a secondary field. Public History emphasizes the application of historical knowledge to real-world issues, typically making a historical topic accessible to a non-academic public. This track prepares students for professional positions in archives, museums, historic sites, and government agencies, etc.


Student Learning Outcomes

All students graduating with the MA will: 

  • Elucidate key principles, theories, techniques, sources, and methods of the historical discipline and in the student’s primary and secondary fields.
  •  Explain the key principles, theories and methods of World and/or comparative history, and analyze historical processes and events and their interrelation, including debates and historiographies.
  • Develop their historical research and writing skills through analysis and interpretation of primary and secondary source materials.
    • Retrieve and analyze archival materials, historical documents and historiographical contributions and debates from various periods, interpreting and contextualizing them within their cultural, social, political, environmental, etc. contexts.
    • Demonstrate a superior quality of writing both in terms of mechanics and in developing an argument effectively. 
  • Synthesize and evaluate the pertinent arguments and debates among historians in their chosen primary and secondary fields.
Students pursuing the Research Option or Research with Public History Option will also:
  • Create an original, sustained, coherent argument based on primary and secondary sources in the form of a thesis or project that demonstrates mastery of their fields and research.
  • Articulate the key principles, theories, methodologies and issues of their topic through an oral defense of their thesis or project. 
Students pursuing the Extended Coursework Option or Extended Course work with Public History Option) will also:
  • Demonstrate a deeper mastery of the pertinent historical and historiographical arguments and debates in their chosen primary and secondary fields through written and oral exams.  
Students pursuing Public History as their primary or secondary field will also:
  • Understand and evaluate the methods of gathering, preserving, and disseminating historical knowledge in public settings and then demonstrate their mastery of these approaches through individual and/or collaborative projects.
    • Demonstrate an understanding of the historiography of public history, the methods of reflective practice in public history, and the ethics and enduring issues associated with the practice of public history. Master current methods and skills in historical documentation and interpretation to make history accessible and useful to the public
    • Produce, to professional standards, a portfolio highlighting the student’s work in their public history coursework and internship.

Details Accordion Closed

Additional Admission Requirements
  • Admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
    • NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Details on admission requirements are included in the online application.
    • Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution.
    • Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A"), or the equivalent.
    • Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College.
    • Transcripts.
    • For details on graduate admission policies, please visit the Graduate Admissions Policy.
    • International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy.


    Individual program admission requirements include:

    • 3 letters of recommendation
    • writing sample
    • personal statement or essay
Master's Requirements
  • This degree consists of 18-21 units of core and 15-18 units of track requirements.

  • This Master’s degree requires 33-39 units distributed as follows:

    • Core Courses: 18-21 units
    • Select a Track: 15-18
      • Research Track: 18 units
      • Research Project with Public History Track: 18 units
      • Extended Coursework Track: 15-18 units
      • Extended Coursework with Public History Track: 15-18 units


    Core Courses

    Take the following 18-21 units:

    • HIS 550 or HIS 560 (3 units)
    • HIS 600, preferably in the first semester (3 units)
    • HIS 602, with a grade of 'B" or better (3 units)
    • Primary field coursework, select one from the following (9-12* units):
      • Transregional and World
      • Race, Ethnicity and Gender
      • Public History and Interpretation
      • Politics, Economy, and Culture
      • Indigeneity and Colonialism
      • Environment and Health
      • Borderlands and U.S. West
    • *You may take up to 12 units of primary field coursework if completing either the Extended Coursework or the Extended Coursework with Public History tracks.

      Students must have an approved thesis prospectus or public history project prospectus by the end of their third semester or will be diverted to the Extended Coursework Track or the Extended Coursework with Public History Track.


  • Select one of the following options:

    • Research Track (18 units)
      • HIS 603 (3 units)
      • HIS 699, for the research, writing, and oral defense of an approved thesis (9 units).
      You must complete HIS 602, with a grade of "B" or better, before enrolling in HIS 699. Be aware that you may end up taking more than the 9 units you can count toward your degree because you must enroll each semester while you work on your thesis.
      • Secondary field coursework (6 units)
        • In consultation with your advisor, choose a field from the list above, different from the one used to satisfy your primary field coursework requirement.
    • Depending on your research interest, your committee may require you to demonstrate competence in a foreign language before you register for thesis units.


    • Research Project with Public History Track (18 units)

      • HIS 502 (3 units)
      • HIS 603 (3 units)
      • HIS 608 or HIS 686 (3 units)
      • Public History secondary field elective chosen in consultation with your advisor (3 units)
      • HIS 689 Project or HIS 699, for the research, writing, and oral defense of an approved thesis containing a public history component (6 units).

      You must complete HIS 602 with a grade of "B" or better, before enrolling in HIS 699. Be aware that you may end up taking more than the 3 units you can count toward your degree because you must enroll each semester while you work on your thesis.


    • Extended Coursework Track (15-18 units)

      • HIS 597 (3 units)
      • Secondary field coursework (6-9 units)
        • In consultation with your advisor, choose a field from the list above, different from the one used to satisfy your primary field coursework requirement.
      • Third field coursework or cognate (3-6 units)
    • You must pass a comprehensive final examination covering the courses taken. The comprehensive exam will have written and oral components, and will be structured by the program committee.


    • Extended Coursework with Public History Track (15-18 units)
      • HIS 502 (3 units)
      • HIS 597 (3 units)
      • HIS 608 or HIS 686 (3 units)
      • Public History secondary field elective chosen in consultation with your advisor (3 units)
      • Third field coursework (3-6 units)
      • You must have an approved portfolio and you must pass a comprehensive final examination covering the courses taken. The comprehensive exam will have written and oral components, and will be structured by the program committee.

        Electives, as needed, should be chosen in consultation with your advisor, and may include up to 6 units of non-History graduate coursework, and up to 3 units of independent study.
Additional Information
  • Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also take. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.

  • Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's Program

    This program is available as an Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate Plan wherein a student may start a Master's degree, while simultaneously completing their Bachelor's degree. Departments may allow students to complete both degrees in an accelerated manner by approving up to 12 units applicable to both degrees.

Availability Accordion Closed

  • Flagstaff

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Michael A Amundson
Professor
Department of History
Michael.Amundson@nau.edu
+1 928 523-6331
Liberal Arts , room 315
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Christopher R Boyer
Dean, College of Arts and Letters; Professor of History
College of Arts and Letters
Chris.Boyer@nau.edu
+1 928 523-7798
Riles , room 209
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Leilah Claire Danielson
Chair, History; Professor, History
Department of History
Leilah.Danielson@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8425
Liberal Arts , room 205
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Paul V Dutton
Professor
Department of History
Paul.Dutton@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8830
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Sanjay Joshi
Professor
Department of History
Sanjay.Joshi@nau.edu
+1 928 523-6216
Liberal Arts , room 206
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Jeremy LaBuff
Associate Chair, History; Assistant Professor, History
Department of History
Jeremy.LaBuff@nau.edu
+1 928 523-4518
Liberal Arts , room 209D
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Eric Vaughn Meeks
Professor
Department of History
Eric.Meeks@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8428
Liberal Arts , room 316
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Elizabeth B Schwall
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Elizabeth.Schwall@nau.edu
+1 928 523-6217
Liberal Arts , room 313
As the largest graduate history program on the Colorado Plateau, our focus begins by understanding the relationship between this area and the larger American West and thematic areas of U.S.—Mexico Borderlands, Environment, and Indigeneity, as well as broader connections of race, class, gender, and colonialism across the Americas and the world. Public history students routinely intern with and create public exhibits for the National Park Service, the Arizona Historical Society, Arizona State Parks, the Museum of Northern Arizona and Lowell Observatory. Our students write theses on the region, the country, and the world. All classes are taught in person and are small, guaranteeing close student-faculty relationships. Every full-time graduate student receives some type of departmental funding and is also eligible for competitive teaching assistantships and department research grants for travel, research, and conferences. Our new accelerated 4+1 program allows top performing NAU undergraduates to enter the MA program in their junior year and complete a BA and MA in five years.
Department of History
Location
Room 213 Building 018
Liberal Arts
705 S Beaver St
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011
Mailing Address
P. O. Box 6023
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011
Email
history@nau.edu
Phone
928-523-4378
Fax
928-523-1277
Social Media
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