UCO Department of History and Geography

Graduate Programs

About Us | Admission & Graduation Requirements | Advisement & Deadlines | Thesis | Final Exams

Resources | Opportunities | FAQ | Teaching Assistants | Contact | Department Home

 


About Us

The UCO Department of History and Geography offers three postgraduate degrees:

M.A. in History, General

M.A. in History, Museum Studies

M.A. in History, Social Studies Teaching.

The degrees are designed for those who wish to further their knowledge of history and the historian’s craft, prepare for doctoral programs, or pursue professional goals. Course offerings reflect the Department of History and Geography’s commitment to developing an awareness and understanding of diverse cultures, contemporary global trends, and global interdependence.


Admission & Graduation Requirements

For current admission and graduation requirements, please see the program descriptions in the Graduate Catalog.


Advisement & Deadlines

An Advisory Committee of three faculty members will direct the program of each student. One member of the Advisory Committee will serve as chairperson and will assume the major responsibility for advising the student. The Advisory Committee for students for the Master of Arts in History - Social Studies Teaching will include three members from the content areas and one member from the College of Education. The Advisory Committee must be created before the second semester of enrollment.

The department’s Director of Graduate Studies will maintain all student records and will serve as an advisor in supervising the student’s progress toward a degree.

Click here for Graduation Procedures and Important Deadlines.


Thesis

Students for the General History and Museum Studies major may submit a thesis as part of their work. (The Social Studies Teaching major is strictly non-thesis.) The faculty member who directs the thesis will also serve as the Chair of the student’s Advisory Committee.

Each student who writes a thesis will be required to take an oral examination of about two hours. One hour will be devoted to the defense of the thesis, and the other hour to an examination of the student’s graduate course work.

Any graduate student entering in the Fall, 2001 semester and thereafter who elects or is required to submit a thesis must publicly defend the thesis before the student will be allowed to graduate. A representative of the Jackson College of Graduate Studies and Research will be present at the defense.

Students who choose to write a thesis must enroll in HIST 5990 - Thesis for a total of six hours.

In addition, the Advisory Committee may require the candidate to have a reading knowledge of a foreign language or other research tool which they believe essential for the completion of the thesis. The committee will strongly advise all students who plan to continue their graduate studies on the doctoral level to have at least one foreign language.


Final Exams

Final examinations are required of all students. In each case, the student’s Advisory Committee will serve as the Examining Committee.

Non-thesis students for the General History and Museum Studies major will take written examinations prepared by their advisory committees. These students will also take an oral examination of one to two hours defending the written exam and covering their graduate course work.

Students in the Social Studies Teaching major will take oral examinations. Each exam will be from one to two hours and will cover the graduate work taken by the student.


Resources

The University of Central Oklahoma, with an enrollment of over 15,000, is a metropolitan university located in the greater Oklahoma City area.  Campus libraries, archives, museums, and galleries offer students opportunities for research, service, and internship.  Located in the metropolitan area are several state institutions: the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, the Oklahoma Museum of History, the Oklahoman Museum of Natural History, and the Oklahoma Historical Society.  Major archival and material culture collections are also located at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and the Western History Collections.

The Department of History and Geography houses the Ethic Studies program, the International Studies program, and the Applied Liberal Arts program.  The Western Pacific Institute, also sponsored by the department, serves as a forum for addressing Asian issues. Journals edited by the faculty include the Journal of Western Pacific, the American Review of China Studies, and the Southwest Social Science Review.

 


Opportunities

The department encourages students to engage in broad professional activities that enhance opportunities for employment and for acceptance into doctoral programs.  Many students publish in scholarly journals, present papers at conferences, attend meetings of professional associations, or assist in journal editing.  The Diane Neal Kremm fund helps to pay student travel expenses for research, paper presentations, and professional training.  The department also has an active internship program and places students in museums and related institutions throughout the state and nation.  Students and faculty are active in UCO’s award winning Rho Lambda Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the international history honorary society.  The Rho Lambda Chapter participates in regional conferences and sponsors speakers, films, tours, and social events.

 

 


 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

1. I have 18 hours of history, but I do not have a 3.0 GPA in my history courses. Can I still be admitted into the program?

 

No. You must take additional courses to bring  your history GPA up to the required level.

 

2. While I have not taken 18 hours of history, I have taken a number of history related courses in other fields. Will those count?

 

Courses taken outside a history department will not be considered for the 18 credit prerequisite. If a student feels a course should be considered, he/she must     provide the graduate committee with a syllabus and /or other information about the course.

 

3. May I take graduate level courses while completing undergraduate prerequisites?

 

If it is only a matter of 3 or 6 credits, a student may also take graduate level courses to meet full time status. However, it is understood that a student will complete undergraduate prerequisites as soon as possible.

 

4. Can one take HIST 3113 ( Historical Research) for graduate credit?

 

No. HIST 3113 is an undergraduate prerequisite and will not be considered for graduate credit. If you have not taken HIST 3113 as an undergraduate, you should complete this course during your first semester of graduate study.

 


 

Teaching Assistants

The Department of History and Geography does employ a limited number of teaching and research assistants. For more information on this program, please contact the Graduate Student Coordinator using the link below.

 


 

Contact

For more information, please contact Patti Loughlin, Ph.D., Graduate Director, ploughlin@uco.edu or (405) 974-5491.