I always tell history students that doctoral advisers are more important than doctoral programs. When I look at the U.S. News & World Report rankings I tend to focus less on which program is ranked in the top five and […]
graduate school
Mintz: “It’s time to be blunt: postgraduation success requires a demanding liberal arts curriculum”
Read to the end of this post to learn about supplementary patrons-only content. I am teaching Created and Called for Community again this semester. This is a course required by all Messiah University first-year students in their second semester. Our […]
Ph.D. program in history at the University of Minnesota will not take students this year
Here is Ryan Faircloth at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: The University of Minnesota will not accept new students into many of its liberal arts doctoral degree programs this fall, pausing admissions to save money during the pandemic and to focus on […]
The University of Chicago English department will only admit graduate students working “in and with Black Studies.”
If you are applying to graduate school in English and do not want to study anything other than Black Studies, you shouldn’t waste your time on an application to the University of Chicago. Here is an announcement on the department’s […]
Redefining Aesthetics as Performance
What is your paper title?
Self-care for graduate students (and faculty)
Today I came across Alfreda James‘s wonderful piece at Inside Higher Ed on “self-care essentials for graduate students.” I really enjoyed the piece for two reasons. First, a lot of her piece applies to faculty members as well as graduate students. […]
What Do You Wish You Had Learned in the First Semester of Your History Graduate Program?
Recently, Baylor University history professor Andrea Turpin asked her Twitter followers a question about her upcoming graduate-level historiography class: Historians: I am teaching graduate historiography in the fall and would love to know: What is something you wish you had […]
Gutting Academic Books
Douglas Hunter has published a really interesting piece at Slate about the practice, common among graduate students in history, of understanding the argument of a book without really reading it. This process is often described as “gutting.” Hunter explores the implications […]
Digital Humanities and Your Vita
Will experience, expertise or interest in digital humanities help you land an academic job? In the Fall, my department will be conducting a search for a public historian. While the ability to do digital history will not be one of […]
Should Applicants to a Ph.D Program Have a Fully-Formed Dissertation Idea in Mind When They Apply?
I often counsel undergraduates and M.A. students, both my students and others, about applying to Ph.D programs. I talked a bit about what I sometimes say to them in Episode 37 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast. Every […]
*The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast* Has Fans on the Campus of Calvin College
Today this college sophomore at Calvin College reported that she took a stroll around campus while listening to episode 37 of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast. The episode is titled “Should You Go To Grad School?” Now go […]
OAH Dispatch: Sometimes “I just need to listen”
Here is Mary R.S. Bracy‘s latest post from the Organization of American Historians meeting in Sacramento. Click here for Mary’s previous OAH post: “She Persisted: A New Assistant Professor Tells Her Story.” Enjoy! As is usually the case when I […]
She Persisted: A New Assistant Professor Tells Her Story
I am thrilled to have Mary R.S. Bracy writing for us this weekend from the floor of the annual meeting of the Organization of American Historians in Sacramento. Mary is not new to The Way of Improvement Leads Home. […]
How to Advise Ph.D Students
Many of you recall Erin Bartram‘s viral post about her decision to leave academia. We blogged about it here and will be talking to Erin in a forthcoming episode of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast. Her recent piece […]
Ghost Dissertation Advisers
I am thankful that I had an excellent dissertation adviser who cared about my work. Katrin Schultheiss, the current chair of the Department of History at George Washington University, did not have the same experience. She described her experience (at […]
Some Advice for Prospective Graduate Students in History
This is a very helpful piece at AHA Today from Christina Copland, a graduate student in history at the University of Southern California. If you are an undergraduate who is considering graduate school I think you will find Copland’s article […]
Reading as a Graduate Student
Karen Wulf of the Omohundro Institute has a nice post at the Vast Early America blog on “reading” in graduate school. If you are studying for your comps and find yourself awash in a sea of monographs, this piece is […]
What Might a Ph.D in History Look Like in 2022?
Jim Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, has a vision. In his recent piece at The Chronicle of Higher Education, he imagines what an orientation for new doctoral students might look like in 2022. Here is a taste: […]
Should Young Academics Be On Twitter?
Oliver Bateman, a historian and journalist, explores this question over at The Atlantic. Here is a taste: Scholarly research has lent credence to anecdotal claims about social media’s growing importance as a networking tool for academics at all stages of their […]
New Summer Online Graduate Courses Through Gilder-Lehrman
The Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History has just announced their summer graduate course offerings. These courses can be applied to an M.A. in Humanities (American History concentration) at Adams State University. They are: America in an Age of World Wars: […]