Master of Arts in History
Overview
The URI Department of History offers a master’s program with two major areas of study – General History or History, Anthropology and Archaeology.
Graduate students enrolled in the history program will declare a primary concentration in General History or in our History, Anthropology and Archeology concentration. Students require 30 credits for the degree in either concentration. In the General History concentration, at least 24 of these credits must come from the History department. Three of those credits must be History 500. The History, Anthropology and Archaeology has separate requirements that are cross-disciplinary; History 500 is optional, but recommended for these students.
Students may take two courses (six credits) outside the History department. Those can be in URI departments with graduate programs such as English, Marine Affairs, Political Science, Gender and Women’s Studies, or Labor and Industrial Relations. They may also be graduate courses taken elsewhere, such as an online summer course that some programs offer. If the courses are at Rhode Island College, the courses automatically count. Students will need to petition the Graduate School to count graduate work from another institution. Students should discuss these substitutions with the Director of Graduate Studies.
How to Apply
There are two ways to apply to the program. Most students will apply for the two-year program. This offers you the opportunity to complete a thesis or a non-thesis option, compete for teaching assistantship offers, and develop your skills as a historian. If you are applying for the General History degree, you do not need to take the GRE. If you are applying for the History, Archaeology and Anthropology track, you do need to take the GRE.
The second way to apply is for current History majors at URI. This is a five-year bachelor’s-to-master’s degree that allows current undergraduates to achieve a master’s degree with just one extra year of study. This is done through counting three courses twice. You may apply for this program after completing 75 credits toward your bachelor’s degree and you may begin the program after completing 90 credits. Each student begins this process in a different place and should consult the Director of Graduate Studies for a personalized advising session about it. You may apply for either the General History or History, Archaeology and Anthropology track in this program and applicants for either do not need to take the GRE. Moreover, there is no application fee for the Bachelor’s to Master’s program. However, students in this program will be unlikely to qualify for a teaching assistantship and we do not expect many will be able to complete the thesis option.
Both paths start with applying at GradCas
When Do We Offer Courses?
Advanced topics and graduate seminars are held once a week, usually in the late afternoon, so that students who are working or teaching in area schools will find it easier to attend. About half of our students attend full time, and the other half take a class or two per semester. We welcome students from other graduate programs such as education, English and political science. We also welcome non-degree students who need graduate work for professional development or wish to take courses for personal enrichment. Students attending school full time generally take two years to complete the M.A. in History.
Students also may take courses at the 400-level (History 401, 441, or 481) that History offers in a mixed forum with undergraduates. Graduate students in these courses will do additional work to qualify for graduate credit.
The department offers between two and three graduate seminars each semester and it offers two 401/441/481 level each semester. Topics vary and the course numbers may be repeated for credit so long as the topics are different.
Funding Opportunities?
We have limited funding opportunities for students. At present, the History department has four teaching assistantships. Teaching assistants teach freshmen-level recitation sections, working with the professor in a lecture class to develop lesson plans, grade papers, and hold office hours with students. Teaching assistantships last two years. Receiving an offer for a teaching assistantship is a highly competitive process. You will be automatically considered for a teaching assistantship offer upon acceptance to the department.
Faculty sometimes have other funding they can offer students on a case-by-case basis, but this is not guaranteed.