Web site at: http://www.utep.edu/history/
334 Liberal Arts
Phone: (915) 747-5508
E-mail: history@utep.edu
4.- Ph.D. Program
Ph.D. Program
The Ph.D. program in History focuses on the history of the Borderlands. The program is rooted in the premise that the Border unites as much as it divides and that the people of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico share many common historical experiences. Students at UTEP experience first-hand the complex political and social realities of a border community and take advantage of the rich opportunities for research in both El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. The degree is intended to prepare students for professional careers as college and university faculty, or as public historians working in such fields as museum administration, historic preservation, archival management, and public policy.
All students in the program complete a field of concentration in U.S.- Mexico Borderlands history and two additional fields chosen from United States history, Mexican and Latin American history, and World history. With the approval of the Graduate Program Committee, students may design an alternative supporting field in history or related fields. Students must demonstrate a reading knowledge of Spanish, except in unusual circumstances where another language may be more appropriate.
Admissions Requirements
In addition to the general requirements for admission to the Graduate School and the graduate program in History listed above, students should meet the following qualifications:
- Completion of a BA or MA degree in History. Students whose degree was in a field other than history should submit evidence of preparation equal to an undergraduate minor in History (survey courses in US History and World History or Western Civilization; and 12 upper-division hours). Applicants with less than the required preparation may be required to do predoctoral work.
- Submission of satisfactory GRE scores. (Test must have been taken in the last 5 years.)
- Evidence of potential for scholarly work in history (from references and a written personal statement as well as the academic record).
- TOEFL score of 550 or higher for international applicants whose first language is not English or who have not completed a university degree in the U.S. or another English-speaking country.
Application Procedures
Application forms can be obtained from and should be submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Texas at El Paso. Applications may be submitted at any time, but will be acted upon only once a year. The deadline for the submission of applications for the following academic year is February 15.
The documents to be submitted to the Graduate School are as follows:
- Official Graduate School application form
- Official transcripts of all previous academic work
- Official test results on the GRE (and TOEFL if applicable)
- A two to three-page personal statement outlining the applicant's personal experience, educational background, research interests, career goals, and how the program will benefit the applicant's professional development
- Three letters of reference from individuals who can evaluate the applicant's potential for graduate academic work and future professional contributions
- A sample of the student's academic work in the form of a term paper or chapter about 25 pages in length
Course Requirements
All Ph.D. students will be required to take courses at the graduate level (5300 and above) totaling at least 63 semester credit hours. This requirement is composed of core courses (15 hours), seminar courses (9 hours), elective courses (30 hours), and required doctoral dissertation courses (9 hours). Dissertation preparation courses (
HIST 6398 and
HIST 6399) may be repeated, but counted for credit only once in the above total.
The core courses (15 hours) for the degree are as follows:
HIST 5351 Literature and Methodology of Borderlands History [Required]
HIST 6300 Advanced Topics in Historiography [Required]
HIST 6320 History Teaching and Learning [Required]
HIST 5352 Literature and Methodology of Latin American History
HIST 5353 Literature and Methodology of United States History
HIST 5354 Literature and Methodology of World History
Literature and methodology courses in the student's two additional fields of concentration should be chosen from the following:
HIST 5352,
5353,
5354. Students choosing a composite field in history or an interdisciplinary field outside history must take an equivalent course in the literature and methodology of the field.
The seminar courses (9 hours) may be selected from any of the research seminars
HIST 5370-
5382. Seminars may be repeated for credit if the topic varies.
The free electives (30 hours) must be chosen from among the following:
Literature and methodology courses (
HIST 5352-
5354) other than those taken to satisfy the core requirements
Research seminar courses:
HIST 5370-
5382
Studies courses:
HIST 5305-
5321
Public History courses:
HIST 5302 Introduction to Public History;
HIST 5390 Public History Internship Courses from a graduate program outside history (5300 level) if appropriate to the field of study, with approval of the Graduate Advisor.
The required doctoral dissertation courses (9 hours) are as follows:
HIST 6301 Dissertation Planning Course
HIST 6398 and
6399 Dissertation
Dissertation courses may be repeated, but count for only 6 credit hours in the total of 63 semester credit hours.
Language Requirement
Students must demonstrate reading proficiency in the Spanish language by the time they complete 36 semester credit hours. Students are required to have a reading knowledge of Spanish
sufficient to conduct research in primary and secondary sources in that language. Alternate languages may be accepted by the Graduate Program Committee where appropriate to the student's
research. Course work taken to meet the language requirement will not be counted in the 63 hours required for the Ph.D. degree.
Transfer with Graduate Credit
Students accepted into the Ph.D. program with graduate credit (from UTEP or another institution) will be required to meet the specific degree requirements stated above. The student
may petition the Graduate Program Committee to accept up to 30 hours of credit toward the degree. If titles of the transferred courses differ substantially from the history courses listed in
this catalog, the student will be requested to provide documentation to the Committee that the courses transferred are equivalent in content. The required core courses (
HIST 5351-
54 and
HIST 6320) cannot be met by transferred credit.
Maximum Time for Completion of the Ph.D. Degree
Students in the Ph.D. program in History must complete all requirements for the Ph.D. within eight years of their admission to the program. The eight-year period begins with the
semester in which the first courses are taken after receiving formal acceptance into the program. Extensions of the period can be granted by the Graduate Program Committee in response to
written petitions from the candidate if, in their judgment, final completion of the degree requirements by the candidate is considered likely.
Qualifying Examinations
Qualifying examinations must be taken upon completion of all course work except the 9 hours of dissertation courses. Students must enroll in
HIST 6300 (Advanced Topics in Historiography) during the semester in which they take the qualifying examinations. Students will be examined in three geographical fields of concentration: Borderlands history (required) and two additional fields chosen from the following areas: United States history, Mexican and Latin American history, and World history, or in a previously arranged composite field. The Graduate Program Committee will appoint examining committees for each of the three fields.
Dissertation
Students must complete a doctoral dissertation containing substantial original research using primary documents, under the supervision of a dissertation advisor. After completing the
qualifying examinations, students will prepare for the dissertation by taking
HIST 6301 (Dissertation Preparation) under the direction of the dissertation advisor. A committee of three department faculty and one outside faculty member will be selected. The candidate will prepare a formal Dissertation Proposal that must be approved by the dissertation committee, the Graduate Advisor, and the Graduate Program Committee.
Ph.D. Oral Examination
On completion of the dissertation, the candidate will be required to make an oral defense of the dissertation before the dissertation committee, the faculty, and the general public.
Microfilming of Dissertations
The doctoral candidate who has successfully completed the above requirements will be required to pay the cost of a microfilm copy of the dissertation. The signed original copy
(unbound) of the dissertation will be sent by the Graduate School to University Microfilms in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for reproduction.
Along with the original copy of the dissertation, the student must submit to the Graduate School two copies of an abstract, not to exceed 350 words in length (double-spaced), which has
been approved in final form by the dissertation committee. This will be published in Dissertation Abstracts International.
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