YEAR ONE
- History 615 (Fall term) – Introduction to the Comparative Study of History
This course covers a broader scope than other studies courses. It is designed to offer first-year graduate students an introduction to historical literature to encourage the development of critical skills.
- History 807 (Fall term) - Success in Graduate School
This course is designed to introduce students to aspects of professional life and graduate training in the History Department through discussions, readings, and activities. The course will equip students with information, best practices, and resources often unaddressed in typical academic coursework.
- Graduate Seminar #1 (Winter term)
Seminars are an introduction to advanced research. They emphasize the preparation and presentation of a major paper based on research on primary materials.
- History 611 (Winter term, Americanists only) – The Literature of American History
This graduate course introduces first-year Americanist graduate students to certain important topics within the monographic literature of U.S. history in order to develop critical interpretive skills. It satisfies the requirement for an additional 600-level studies course.
- Additional 600-level Studies Course (Fall or Winter term)
Studies courses are designed to introduce students to graduate work in a major topic or field of history. Students acquire some familiarity with the factual content of an historical field, with emphasis placed on gaining acquaintance with the scholarly literature and major historical problems in that field.
- Cognate Course #1 (Fall or Winter term)
Rackham requires all graduate students to take at least two courses outside their home department. If these courses are used to “course off” a prelim field, the two courses must have a minimum grade of B+, add up to at least six credits and be take in the same non-history field. Cognate courses taken in a prior graduate program can be used as "cognates in spirit."
- History 808 - History Pedagogy Seminar I (Winter term)
This is the first in a series of one-credit courses designed to assist first-time graduate student instructors. The course focuses specifically on preparing students for their first semester as a GSI in a U-M undergraduate section in the coming academic year. The course integrates reading and discussion of appropriate pedagogical theory with mock-teaching and classroom observation.
- One Language Requirement Fulfilled
Students of U.S. history are required to demonstrate basic reading proficiency in one language; all other must demonstrate basic reading proficiency in two languages, one of which should be completed in the first year.
- Enrollment
Students should take nine credits per term.
YEAR TWO
- Graduate Seminar #2 (Fall or Winter term)
Students may seek a waiver to this requirement by submitting an MA thesis to their advisor and the director of graduate studies.
- Cognate Course #2 (Fall or Winter term)
Most students finish their second cognate course either in Year One or Year Two. However it is sometimes the case that students must wait for a course to be offered, since some are not taught on a regular basis. While not a requirement for screening (see below), it is strongly advised that students have both cognate courses completed by the end of the third semester.
- Additional 600-level Studies Course (Fall or Winter term)
Studies courses are designed to introduce students to graduate work in a major topic or field of history. Students acquire some familiarity with the factual content of an historical field, with emphasis placed on gaining acquaintance with the scholarly literature and major historical problems in that field.
- History 809 (Fall term) - History Pedagogy Seminar II
This course focuses on implementing what the student learned in HIST 808 in the course for which they will be a graduate student instructor. The students will participate in a number of required CRLT workshops and a special History Department workshop, held the week before classes begin in the fall. These will help students prepare to teach their specific sections. Students will attend additional relevant workshops coordinated by the instructor.
- History 810 (Winter term) - Graduate School and Beyond
The goal of this course is to address a series of topics, skills, and scholarly products that are central to the profession of history. Through discussions, readings, and activities, this course will equip students with information, best practices, and resources that are often unaddressed in the typical academic coursework. The syllabus will attend to topics such as how to get the most out of your fourth-semester review, grant and prospectus writing, preparation for preliminary exams, and discuss career-planning beyond graduate school. Our goal is to share and develop the institutional knowledge graduate students will need to maximize the value of their time as history PhD students at the University of Michigan.
- History 811 (Fall and Winter term) - History Teaching Practicum
GSIs who are taking the History Pedagogy Seminar register for one credit hour with the instructor with whom they are teaching.
- Departmental 4th Semester Review (Winter term)
All second year students are reviewed at the beginning of their fourth term in the program. Favorable reviewsignifies the faculty’s confidence in the student’s potential to proceed to work on the PhD.
- Enrollment
Students should take nine credits per term.
