College of Arts and Sciences
Department of History
www.kent.edu/history

About This Program

The Ph.D. degree in History prepares students to become professional scholars, college and university teachers and independent researchers in private or public research institutions.

Contact Information

• Lindsay Starkey | lstarke3@kent.edu | 330-672-8907

• Connect with an Admissions Counselor: U.S. Student | International Student

Program Delivery

• Delivery:
  • ​In person
• Location:
  • Kent Campus

Applications to the Ph.D. in History are not being accepted starting with the spring 2025 admission term.

For more information about graduate admissions, visit the graduate admission website. For more information on international admissions, visit the international admission website.

Admission Requirements

Applications to the Ph.D. in History are not being accepted starting with the spring 2025 admission term.

• Master's degree from an accredited college or university in history or related discipline
• Minimum 3.000 GPA on a 4.000-point scale
• Official transcript(s)
• GRE scores
• Goal statement describing professional objectives and proposed field of study
• Significant piece of written work
• Three letters of recommendation (preferably academic)
• English language proficiency - all international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions to waive) by earning one of the following:¹
  • Minimum 79 TOEFL iBT score
  • Minimum 6.5 IELTS score
  • Minimum 58 PTE score
  • Minimum 110 DET score

¹

International applicants who do not meet the above test scores may be considered for conditional admission.

Application Deadlines

• Fall Semester
  • Priority deadline: February 1
    Applications submitted by this deadline will receive the strongest consideration for admission.
• Spring Semester
  • Rolling admissions

Program Requirements

Major Requirements

¹

Students who did not complete a historiography class for their master's degree must take HIST 81002.

²

Students may take HIST 81070 more than once.

³

Students working in U.S. history must complete HIST 82070 and HIST 82071.

⁴

Students' electives must include at least four seminars/colloquia. Outside of the focus field, students elect one general and one specialized field. General fields include Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States. Specialized fields explore a particular subfield (e.g., history of American foreign relations) or methodology (e.g., cultural history) across a broad sweep of time and are designed to deepen students' knowledge of their general field.

⁵

Students may apply special topics courses HIST 79095, HIST 79195 and/or HIST 79295 to their focus field requirements with the approval of the graduate coordinator.

⁶

Each doctoral candidate, upon admission to candidacy, must register for HIST 89199 for a total of 30 credit hours. It is expected that a doctoral candidate will thereafter register for HIST 89299 until all requirements for the degree have been met.

Graduation Requirements

• All students must demonstrate reading knowledge of a foreign language.
• Course grades help to measure student performance. Only work of B- grade or better is considered "passing" at the graduate level. Any students whose grades are deficient are dismissed.

Candidacy

After completing all of the requirements, students must successfully complete written and oral examinations in the three elected fields of history.

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Analyze secondary sources in a variety of areas of historical specialization and participate actively and positively in discussions of those sources.
2. Read and master the formative as well as the most significant recent scholarship in their particular areas of focus.
3. Construct effective and analytical book reviews, comparative review essays and historiographical pieces with a high level of proficiency, particularly when it comes to integrating various historical works together into an analytical/argumentative whole.
4. Form their own judgments about secondary historical works and the historiographical fields of which they are part.
5. Analyze a wide array of primary sources in a sophisticated manner; and integrate these sources with secondary sources in order to make an original historical argument.
6. Demonstrate an ability to conceptualize; research; and write book reviews, annotated bibliographical essays, historiographical essays and seminar papers.
7. Produce a professional-quality book-length piece of rigorous academic work.