Graduate Programs

The Department of History offers the Master of Arts degree in a number of forms to meet the intellectual and professional aspirations of its students. It offers concentrations in U.S. History, European History, Global History, and Public History. A non-thesis option in the geographic concentrations is available to students who intend to pursue teaching careers at the secondary and community college levels and to those who prefer not to pursue a research-intensive program. Public History students who intend to seek work at historic sites, museums, and archives may opt to pursue that concentration's Professional Track. Students in all concentrations may choose to pursue a thesis option in preparation for further graduate study or if they enjoy the challenges and rewards of a more intensive research and writing experience. The History Department enjoys an excellent record of placing its graduates into history-related jobs and selective doctoral programs. Finally, the innovative online M.A. program for professional history educators serves the career needs of experienced teachers, museum educators, librarians, and archivists who seek to augment their knowledge of history itself rather than pursue a graduate education degree.

We have built an outstanding reputation for exceptional teaching and dedicated mentorship. The members of the History faculty come to the university from many of the nation's best universities and are known internationally as productive and innovative scholars. Perhaps more importantly, they pride themselves on the attention they devote to their students and the intellectual and professional guidance they offer to those who work under their direction.

The historic and beautiful port city of Wilmington, North Carolina provides a stimulating environment for those who study the past. Equidistant from Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, Wilmington offers easy access to the archives, libraries, historic sites, and museums of the Southeast and Mid Atlantic regions.

The History Department does its utmost to provide its graduate students with financial support during their time at UNCW. This is constrained by the resources with which it is endowed from year to year. Financial assistance takes a number of forms.

Graduate Teaching Assitantships

Fourteen entering and second-year graduate students are awarded Graduate Teaching Assistantships for four semesters each. GTAs work closely with regular faculty members to prepare, administer, and teach the undergraduate survey courses in U.S., European, and Global History. Two of these GTAs, most often those in the Public History concentration, may be assigned to work in the Special Collections section and Archives of the William Madison UNCW Library.

Out-of-State Tuition Remission

Each year the department is able to offer four two-year tuition remissions to non-North Carolinians. These remissions permit these graduate students to pay tuition at in-state rates for their duration. Each remission is accompanied by one of the existing Graduate Teaching Assistantships

Graduate Tuition Scholarships

We are able to offer many students modest Graduate Tuition Scholarships, usually in the hundreds of dollars, at the discretion of the department's Graduate Coordinator and subject to availability.

History Department Named Scholarships

• The Charles Green, Jr. Scholarship
• The Tryone Rowell Scholarship
• The Susan Stern Scholarship
• The Daughters of the American Revolution Scholarship
• The Historic Wilmington Foundation Scholarship
• The Boney-Bellamy Mansion Fellowship in History
• The Hurston-Mora Scholarship

Support for Research and Conference Travel

The History Department strongly encourages its graduate students to pursue research in archival and historical collections outside Wilmington and to present their scholarship at gatherings of professional historians. Consequently, the department does its best to defray the expenses of student travel to archives and conferences in North Carolina, regionally, nationally, and even internationally. Students may apply for monies from the department's Neal-McCaffray and Clayton funds to offset the cost of research travel. This may be awarded at the discretion of the department chair, in consultation with the Graduate Coordinator. The UNCW Graduate Student Association and the office of the Dean of the Graduate School may also provide some money to cover travel expenses. In the case of international travel, students may approach the university's Office of International Programs to provide some monies.