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GRADUATE CERTIFICATE AND INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

Graduate students working together in the library

The Graduate Certificates in History can be tailored to meet your interests. These certificates are ideal for students who already have their master’s degrees and wish to continue formal study, especially middle and secondary school teachers. Students must complete 15 credits to be awarded a certificate. Students may earn multiple certificates.

Who May Apply

Applicants must possess a bachelors degree in history or a related field, and have at least a 3.0 undergraduate GPA. GRE scores are not required.

Those who already possess a master of arts degree in history, education, or a related field and wish to continue advanced studies in history are also welcome to apply.

Applicants need only complete a brief application form and provide a transcript. Two letters of recommendation and statement of goals are necessary for the Certificate Program. However those who already possess a masters degree may have the requirements waived, please discuss your qualifications with the program director.

Graduate History Certificates

  • Graduate Study in History
  • Graduate Study in American History
  • Graduate Study in European History
  • Graduate Study in World History
  • Teaching Advanced History and Government
     

INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

This graduate certificate is designed for current and prospective secondary school social studies teachers and aims to help teachers deepen their substantive content knowledge and enrich their expertise with effective pedagogical methods and theories. This graduate certificate allows the ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ student to combine studies in History and Political Science as well as to further integrate them with relevant pedagogy courses offered by the Education Department.

The Graduate Certificate in Teaching Advanced History and Government requires students to successfully complete 15 credits in a combination of history, education and political science courses. For maximum flexibility, students will be able to distribute these 15 credits among the following curriculums:

  • American History/Government
  • European History/Comparative Government or International Relations
  • World History/Comparative Government or International Relations

Students will take at least one course in each discipline and two courses in two of the disciplines.
 

Sample Curriculum Sequences

AP US History/AP US Government and Politics

  • PSC 7175 - Topics in American Government
  • PSC8110 US Congress or PSC 8120 US Presidency
  • HIS 8016 - Revolutionary America
  • HIS 8026 - US Civil War
  • EDU 8673 - Philosophy of Education
     

AP European History and AP Comparative Government and Politics

  • HIS 8231 - French Revolution and Napoleonic Era
  • HIS 8241 - European Nationalism 1815-1870 or HIS 8274 Twentieth Century Europe
  • PSC 7375 - Topics in Comparative Politics
  • PSC8320 - Russian Politics
  • EDU 8550 - Methods of Teaching English and Social Studies

Please note that this program does not lead to teacher certification. Students are expected to already have or be planning to earn their teacher certification. Students must have completed their Bachelor’s degree with at least a 3.0 undergraduate GPA. GRE scores are not required and the certificate is open as a post-bac or post-grad certificate. Those who already possess a Master’s degree may have certain requirements waived, based on approval from the primary program director.

This unique and exciting program offers students the opportunity to combine the scholarly rigor of a traditional MA in History with the valuable pragmatic skills needed for management positions in non-profit institutions. It is particularly well suited for students interested in careers in the field of Public History, including work in museums, historic preservation, cultural tourism, libraries and archives, and new media. While advancing their mastery of historical research, historiography, and methodology in rigorous graduate seminars and internships in history, students in the combined program also learn how to manage the economic, administrative and political challenges faced by nonprofit institutions in their courses in ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥â€™s nationally accredited Master of Public Administration (MPA) program.

Admission and Completion Requirements

Applicants must be evaluated and accepted by both the History Department for its master's program and the MPA program for its Nonprofit Management Certificate program. The same admission standards that apply for the MPA program apply for students in the History MA/Certificate program.

Required Courses

The program follows the university’s policy that allows students to pursue two programs simultaneously and have up to 25% of the courses in one program count for credit in the other program. The credit requirements are as follows:

  • 24 History credit hours or eight courses from the History curriculum, one of which must be History 8702, Introduction to Public History. History will accept six credit hours or two courses in Public Administration toward the History master's degree.
  • 12 credit hours or four courses from Public Administration’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management. 
  • History 8702 Introduction to Public History will be accepted for credit in both programs.

Total Credits: 36 (History 24 + MPA 12)

History: 24 credits

  • Theory and Methods - 3 credits *
  • Concentration - 12 credits
  • History 8702, Introduction to Public History- 3 credits
  • Electives - 6 credits
  • The remaining six credits required for the MA in History are fulfilled by two MPA courses.

* Material Culture or Visual Culture will fulfill the Theory and Methods requirements for students in the Combined Degree program.

Masters in Public Administration Certificate in Nonprofit Management: 12 credits

  • MPA 8031 - Financial Management
  • MPA 8600 - Effective Nonprofit Management
  • MPA 8700 - Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations
  • One elective. For a list of electives, contact the MPA program.
  • The remaining three credits required for the Nonprofit Management Certificate are fulfilled by History 8702, Introduction to Public History.

Scholarships and Assistantships

Graduate assistants and tuition scholars in History who wish to participate in the combined program will receive tuition remission for 30 credits (24 History credits plus six MPA credits), but not for the additional six credits required to earn a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. 

This combined program provides an opportunity for graduate students in history who are interested in learning about the professional dimensions of federal, state and local government agencies. The program allows students to gain the practical skills necessary for managing and promoting the political, economic and administrative elements of government institutions while providing them with in-depth knowledge and experience in historical research, historiography and methodology.  

Career Opportunities for Historians in Government Agencies

Job market trends over the last decade have shown numerous career opportunities for historians in federal, state and local government agencies. Some common examples of government agencies at the Federal and State levels that employ historians are the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Congress, the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of State and the National Archives. Duties range from teaching; to processing and preserving documents; to tracking lineages and organizational histories of military, political, or diplomatic units; to preparing briefings for members of the Congress; to developing policy and writing policy documents.

Historians employed with local government agencies have a range of professional responsibilities, including preservation of local landmarks and historic sites, assisting schools with educational programs, archiving, maintaining community historical resources, and developing policy at the local government level. Training in public administration can help prepare historians for the range of administrative, managerial, technical, and policy development duties that these positions require.

Admission and Completion Requirements

Applicants must be evaluated and accepted by both the History Department for its Master’s program and the MPA program for its City Management Certificate program.  The same admission standards that apply for MA in History and the MPA Program will apply for students in the History MA/Certificate program.

The combined MA in History with a Certificate in City Management Program will require students to take 36 credits (instead of the 30 credits required for the History MA degree).  These credits will be divided as follows: 24 History credit hours and 12 credit hours from the designated Master of Public Administration’s curriculum.

Required Courses

The program follows the university’s policy that allows students to pursue two programs simultaneously and have up to 25% of the courses in one program count for credit in the other program. 

The MA in History requires 30 credits; the Certificate in City Management requires 15 credits. When the two are combined, the credit requirements are as follows: 

  • 24 History credit hours or 8 courses from the history curriculum, one of which must be History 8702, Introduction to Public History. History will accept 6 credit hours or two courses in Public Administration from the Certificate in City Management curriculum toward the History Master’s degree. 
  • 12 credit hours or 4 courses from the Master of Public Administration’s Certificate in City Management.  
  • History 8702: Introduction to Public History will be accepted for credit in both programs.

Total Credits: 36 (History 24 + MPA 12)

History: 24 credits:

  • History 8702: Introduction to Public History - 3 credits
  • History 8850: Historical Theory and Methodology - 3 credits
  • History 9006: Internship - 3 credits
  • Additional History courses -  15 credits (12 credits must fall in the student’s Concentration)

The remaining 6 credits required for the MA in History are fulfilled by two MPA courses.

Master of Public Administration Certificate in City Management: 12 credits

  • MPA 8500: Effective City Management
  • MPA 8550: Urban Politics and Government
  • MPA 8031: Financial Management
  • One elective

The remaining 3 credits required for the MPA Certificate are fulfilled by History 8702, Introduction to Public History

Scholarships and Assistantships

Graduate assistants and tuition scholars in History who wish to participate in the combined program will receive tuition remission for thirty credits (24 History credits plus 6 MPA credits), but not for the additional 6 credits required to earn a Certificate in City Management.  

If you have a bachelor’s degree and you want to pursue graduate-level study in the interdisciplinary field of Gender and Women’s Studies, our 15-credit post-BA certificate offers you an opportunity to design your own course of study. If you are already enrolled in a graduate degree program, the certificate allows you to enhance your studies with a deeper knowledge of GWS, which has transformed scholarship and challenged fundamental assumptions in the humanities, social and natural sciences, and the professions.

Curricular Requirements

The certificate requires 15 credit hours or 5 three-credit courses:

  • Critical Perspectives on Gender (GWS 8000)
  • Four graduate courses with the GWS attribute, which is awarded by the GWS academic director to a wide range of graduate course offerings across many disciplines

The GWS curriculum is always evolving, since our faculty frequently teach new graduate courses related to the study of women, gender, and sexuality. Recent courses that qualify for the GWS attribute are: 

  • CHR 7155: Human Sexuality
  • COM 8005: Gender and Communication
  • EDU 8678: Multiculturalism, Gender in Schools
  • ENG 8260: Revenge Tragedy
  • ENG 9530: Sex before Sexology
  • ENG 9640: Emotion and American Fiction
  • ENG 9640: Queer Theory and American Literature
  • ENG 9730: Modernist Sexualities
  • ENG 9720: Feminist Fiction and Feminist Theory
  • GWS 8000: Critical Perspectives on Gender
  • HIS 8002: Gender and the Civil War
  • HIST 8207: Women and Gender in Europe 400-1650
  • HIS 8290: Women and Gender in Modern Europe
  • HIS 8436: Women and Gender in the Middle East
  • HIST 8800: Gender History
  • LAW 6255: Sexuality and the Law
  • LAW 7060: Feminist Legal Theory
  • LAW 7148: Human Trafficking
  • LST 7301: Women in America
  • LST 7303: Social Justice
  • PHI 8540: Feminist Theories
  • PHI 8710: Embodied Epistemologies
  • PHI 8720: Politics of the Affects
  • PSC 8000: Global Feminism
  • PSC 8775: Global Inequality
  • PSY 8900: Intimate Relationships
  • PSY 8900: Gender and Sexuality
  • SPA 7449: Women’s Voices in Latin America
  • THE 8200: Gender, Politics, and Performance

Admission Requirements

Students not enrolled in a ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ graduate degree program who are applying for the freestanding certificate must submit an application form and an official transcript of all previous college work, showing a baccalaureate degree from an accredited university; two letters of recommendation from people in a position to evaluate the applicant’s academic ability; and a personal statement indicating interests, plans, and objectives within the field of Gender and Women’s studies. Graduate students already enrolled at ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ may apply through an internal application and a review of their graduate transcripts. Up to two courses may double-count toward both a graduate degree and the GWS graduate certificate.

Questions? Contact Travis Foster, Gender and Women’s Studies Graduate Director.

      

Ready for the Next Step?

Department of History
St. Augustine Center
Room 403
800 E. Lancaster Avenue
¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥, PA 19085

Graduate Program Director: Dr. Craig Bailey

Graduate Program Coordinator: Vicki Sharpless

     

     

DEADLINES

Fall Assistantship: February 16

Fall: Rolling until August 1

Spring: Rolling until December 1

Summer: Rolling until May 1

If you have missed a deadline, please contact Dr. Craig Bailey to discuss your options.

Begin your application.

       

STUDENT NEWS

Graduate History students gathered in the ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ Art Gallery

History Graduate Students Curate New Exhibit for ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ Art Gallery

Graduate history students celebrated the culmination of their semester-long public history practicum project with the opening reception of a new exhibit, Dox Thrash: Painted, Not Printed, in the ¸ÌéÙÖ±²¥ University Art Gallery. Under the direction of Associate Professor Whitney Martinko, PhD, these students curated the exhibit, which presents a new view of Dox Thrash, a Black artist working in Philadelphia in the mid-20th century. READ MORE