中密歇根大学

The Joint MA/PhD in History at Central Michigan University is an innovative doctoral program focusing on transnational and comparative history. The “Joint” part of the program’s title refers to the fact that students pursue both coursework and research not only at CMU but also at one of our international partner institutions in Germany, Scotland, ​and France. Faculty from CMU and partner institutions also serve on jointly advised committees for doctoral dissertations.

A central feature of the Joint Program is the requirement that students spend a minimum of one academic year at a partner institution. Ordinarily taken in the second year of a student’s course of study, this year abroad offers the chance to take coursework in an international setting, work closely with international faculty and colleagues, and begin the pursuit of dissertation research.

In keeping with the program’s focus, doctoral dissertations produced by our students are required to address transnational and/or comparative history. Recognizing that both “transnational” and “comparative” cover diverse approaches to the past, the department offers advanced training in a wide range of both major and minor fields, including all periods of human history around the globe and a variety of thematic specializations.

The short answer to this common question is that the Joint MA/PhD in history at CMU—together known as “the Joint Program”—is fundamentally a doctoral program. Apart from the exceptions described below, the program is designed to culminate in the PhD. The program’s structure and coursework, featuring the year abroad as well as milestones such as the comprehensive exams, the doctoral prospectus, and achieving doctoral candidacy, are geared toward the training of professional scholars and university teachers, as evidenced above all by success in comprehensive examinations and the doctoral dissertation.

There are two main reasons why the Joint MA has been established as a separate program, and is therefore listed as a separate program in the graduate bulletin.

1. After completing the requirements for the first two years of study, Joint PhD students are eligible to receive the MA. Under current university procedures, this requires the Joint MA to be listed as an independent program. A further consequence of this policy is that students admitted to the Joint PhD program are also enrolled, for administrative purposes, in the Joint MA. After completing Joint MA requirements (identical to the first two years of the PhD program) and receiving the master’s degree, they will be enrolled solely in the Joint PhD).
2. International students from partner institutions pursuing a joint degree from both CMU and their home university ordinarily enroll in the Joint MA at CMU, for a variety of reasons.