Graduate Program
Welcome to the Graduate Pages of the Rutgers-New Brunswick History Department website! Our objectives and degree requirements are fully detailed in our online Program Statement. I likewise encourage anyone interested in our offerings to contact me via email at
The Rutgers University History Department at New Brunswick provides graduate training by a distinguished faculty of over sixty historians. Their interests and courses cover almost every period and area of study. The department is particularly noted for its strengths in women's and gender history, social and cultural-intellectual history; African-American history; the history of technology, medicine and science; comparative and global history; and Latin American history. In recent years, we have built on these strengths while expanding our geographic scope to include South and East Asia and Africa. Recent surveys of history graduate programs by "U.S. News and World Report" have consistently ranked our programs in women's and gender history (currently ranked No. 1), cultural history and African-American history among the finest in the nation.
Approximately twelve full-time doctoral students are admitted each year. Admission is highly competitive; generous financial support is available. Students arriving with the B.A. are normally guaranteed a five year package of support (two years of fellowship, two of TA-ship, and one either of fellowship or TA-ship, depending on students' needs). Students who already have earned the M.A. are normally guaranteed a four year package of support (two years of fellowship, two of TA-ship). It goes without saying, finally, that the benefits and services of our program are available to students without discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability or handicap, marital status, or veteran status.
Rutgers University is richly endowed with facilities for graduate study and research. The Rutgers University Library System contains over two million bound volumes as well as superb collections of government documents, manuscripts, pamphlets, maps and other research materials. Within easy traveling distance are outstanding libraries, archives, and historical societies in the New York and Philadelphia areas.
The department is home to several affiliated centers and projects , including the Thomas Edison Papers Project, the Rutgers British Studies Project, and the Institute for Electrical Engineering History–making Rutgers a major center for the history of electrical technology. It is also the site for the Medieval and Early Modern Data Bank project, directed by Rudy Bell. The Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis offers an opportunity for graduate students and visiting scholars from diverse fields to explore major themes in historical studies.
The New Brunswick History Department offers a Masters Program in Global and Comparative History. Click here for details. Other Masters’ programs in History are offered at the Newark and Camden campuses.
Jennifer Mittelstadt
Vice Chair for Graduate Studies