The History Department’s Graduate Program serves the needs of students who intend to pursue doctoral studies at other institutions, teachers who wish to deepen their content knowledge, and those who simply seek a more advanced and specialized study of the past. Going substantially beyond upper-division undergraduate coursework, the graduate program provides students with in-depth knowledge about the origins and development of peoples in the past and helps them perfect their ability to conduct advanced research and writing.
Graduates of the MA program will be equipped to make significant and independent contributions to the field of History and will be prepared for successful professional careers as secondary teachers, college or university professors, journalists, lawyers, and historians in government and private agencies.
The History faculty at Chico State combine expertise in their subfields with a level of accessibility not often found at a regional comprehensive university. We invite you to join our community of scholars in our friendly, relatively inexpensive college town.
Questions? Contact Professor Stephen Lewis, the History Department's graduate coordinator, and download a copy of the History Department's Graduate Student Manual. (PDF)
Curriculum
View History Graduate (MA) curriculum in the Course Catalog.
Culminating Activities for the MA in History
Requirements for Admission
- BA in History from an accredited college or university or a BA degree in another discipline with advance approval of the History Department’s Graduate Coordinator.
- An undergraduate grade point average that clearly indicates the ability to thrive in our program.
Application Instructions
Students meeting the above requirements are invited to submit a graduate school application through Cal State Apply.
All of the application materials below will be submitted through this online application.
Deadlines
- For fall admission, April 1
- For spring admission, November 1
Application Steps and Materials
- Transcript(s)
- Writing sample. Our strong preference is for a History research paper of between ten and twenty pages that highlights your experience working with primary sources and secondary literature as well as in making historical arguments.
- Two letters of recommendation, ideally from professors who know you well.
- Statement of Purpose (roughly 500 words), which should address the following:
1. Your personal and professional goals in seeking an advanced degree in History and why you believe CSU Chico is a good fit for your goals.
2. Your preparation to study History at the graduate level.
3. Two subfields of History that interest you, chosen from the list below. (Only one may be in a US subfield.) - Prospective students interested in the thesis option should provide an additional research statement (roughly 500 words) that describes their proposed thesis. Please indicate whether you have the relevant language preparation to carry out this work. You should identify one History faculty member (Professor, Associate, or Assistant Professor) that you would choose to chair your Graduate Advisory Committee.
Subfields of History: Choose Two
US History to 1877
- Prof. Michael Magliari
- Prof. Robert Tinkler
- Prof. Alisa Wade (currently not available for new thesis supervision)
US History since 1877
- Prof. Gloria Lopez
- Prof. Michael Magliari
- Prof. Shawn Schwaller
Middle East/Islamic History
- Prof. Najm al-Din Yousefi
Latin America
Europe
- Prof. Dallas DeForest
- Prof. Jason Nice
East Asia
- Prof. Sinwoo Lee (currently not available for new thesis supervision)
All incoming graduate students are automatically placed on the comprehensive exam track, which requires preparing for and passing exams in two historical subfields, only one of which may be in a U.S. subfield. Students who wish to write a thesis will need to submit a prospectus and form a Graduate Advisory Committee by March 1 (for fall matriculants) or October 1 (for spring matriculants). The Graduate Committee will approve thesis applications based on project feasibility, the student’s relevant language preparation, and faculty workload and availability.
MA Degree Program Recommended Two-Year Roadmap
Year 1
First Semester
- HIST 690: Historiography (3 units) or HIST 6XX: Graduate Reading Seminar
- 6XX: Graduate Reading Seminar (3 units)
- 400-level elective (3 units)
Second Semester
- HIST 600: Graduate Research Seminar (3 units)
- 6XX: Graduate Reading Seminar (3 units)
- 400-level elective (3 units)
Year 2
Third Semester
- 6XX: Graduate Reading Seminar (3 units) or HIST 690:Historiography (3 units)
- 6XX: Graduate Reading Seminar (3 units)
- 400-level elective (3 units)
Fourth Semester
- 400- or 600-level elective, which may include HIST 600: Graduate Research Seminar or HIST 6XX: Graduate Reading Seminar (3 units)
- Culminating activity prep (HIST 697 or HIST 699T)
The Thesis Option
Students may apply to the department’s Graduate Committee for approval to write a thesis after they have completed nine units in the program. Students will need to submit a prospectus, form a two-person Graduate Advisory Committee, and complete a Master's Degree Program Plan (PDF) form by March 1 (for fall matriculants) or October 1 (for spring matriculants). The prospectus should describe the student's topic and provide a working list of both secondary and primary sources (listed separately) that will be consulted. The student should demonstrate adequate knowledge of the historiographic literature in their field and should seek to demonstrate that sufficient and accessible primary materials exist so that a genuinely original work can be produced.
The Graduate Committee will approve thesis applications based on project feasibility, the student’s relevant language training, faculty workload and availability, and whether the proposed thesis will make an original and significant contribution to historical knowledge. Faculty members cannot serve on more than two thesis committees at the same time.
Typically, a thesis should not exceed seventy-five pages in length.
Upon completion of the thesis and its acceptance by the student's Graduate Advisory Committee, an oral examination will be scheduled to which all members of the Department may be invited. At this oral examination the student will be asked to defend the thesis.
For information about formatting and submitting a thesis, please consult with the Office of Graduate Studies.
Listed below are three recently completed theses that won the campus-wide Outstanding Thesis Award:
“Citing Divine and Human Laws: Women of African Descent and the New Orleans Cabildo, 1769-1800” (2019)
“Proselytizing Modernity: Reexamining the Summer Institute of Linguistics’ Tenure in Mexico, 1934-1979” (2021)
"’The best-kept secret’: the Genesis Group's origins and influence on theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1971-2018” (2023)
Comprehensive Examinations
Students may take Comprehensive Examinations as the culmination of their work towards the MA. This will consist of two three-hour written examinations, completed within a two-week period, followed by a one-hour oral examination with the Graduate Advisory Committee. Candidates will present themselves for examination in two of the following subfields of History, only one of which may be in U.S. history: Europe; East Asia; Latin America; the Middle East; the U.S. to 1877; the U.S. since 1877; or another subfield approved by the Department Graduate Committee. They will ask one faculty member from each of their chosen subfields to serve on their Graduate Advisory Committee and will build reading lists in consultation with both faculty members supervising their chosen exam fields. For each subfield, students will be given a written examination synthesizing the arguments and evidence from the titles on the subfield list.
The Graduate Advisory Committee members will read both exams prior to the oral examination. Immediately following the oral examination, committee members will confer with one another as to whether both exams are of sufficient quality to be accepted as fulfilling the requirement for graduation. A candidate will qualify for an MA in History if both members of the Graduate Advisory Committee agree that the candidate has demonstrated competency in the subfields of History that the candidate has selected.
