Student Opportunities and Resources
The History Department has several academic and professional opportunities and resources to offer students, including an honors program, internships, and study abroad programs.
Check out what the History Department has to offer!
Combined BA+MA in History
The History Department offers a combined Bachelor’s and Master’s degree program that enables students with any undergraduate major, who have taken at least 3 history classes, to earn a Master’s degree with only one additional academic year beyond their undergraduate degree.
History Honors Program
The program provides history majors with a record of high achievement with the opportunity to carry out historical research and write an original piece of scholarship. To be in the program, students must commit to a two-course sequence that is designed to help them complete an honors project. Upon successful completion of the two classes, students will be awarded departmental honors.
Eligibility
Students are invited to apply to the program in February of their junior year based, in part, on the number of history courses taken to that point, grade point average, and the nomination of History Department faculty.
The History Honors Program and the Honors College
The History Honors Program overlaps with the Honors College in that the capstone (HST 400.7) is approved courses for University Honors, and the final product can count as the Honors College's final project.
Courses
HST 400.7, Honors Senior Capstone (Fall of Senior year); 3 credit hours- Ordinarily taken in the first semester of the senior year, the course is designed to help students complete a first draft of their thesis. The course fulfills the departmental and Miami Plan capstone requirement.
- This course is designed to take an honors project-in-progress and see it through completion. A major component of the class also requires students to communicate their research with outside audiences in various ways, including at the department's Honors Symposium at the end of the semester. The course counts toward the upper-level course requirement for the History Major, but NOT for the required 400-level course.
Questions may be directed to the Honors Director, Dr. Amanda McVety.
Scholarships
Each year, the History Department awards the following scholarships:
- Fred B. Joyner Memorial History Scholarships
- Boyd and Carol Shafer Scholarships
- James Watson and Lois George MacDonald Scholarships
- A. Dane Ellis Scholarship
These scholarships vary in amount up to full tuition; awards are applied to university tuition and fees. Typical awards are $1000 to $6000. To receive a scholarship, a student must be a full-time history major at Miami. Applicants for the Joyner, Shafer and Ellis scholarships must be at least rising sophomores at the time of application, have a History course GPA of at least 3.25 and an overall GPA of at least 3.0. The MacDonald Scholarship is open to both incoming freshmen who intend to declare a history major and to upperclass history majors using the same criteria as the Joyner, Shafer and Ellis awards.
Scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit; the MacDonald and Ellis Scholarships also give special consideration to applicants who demonstrate financial need. (Students who wish to be considered for need-based scholarships must file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid [FAFSA]; contact One Stop Services - Financial Aid for forms, information, and deadlines.)
One application will make you a candidate for all scholarships. Applications are due late in the Spring Semester; the department will send a call for applications to History Majors. Applications will include a two-page description of how the History major fits the student's career aspirations and desires for intellectual and personal fulfillment.
History Students in the News
History major Nick Campbell conducted research on the failure of the anti-Bolshevik forces in 1917 to consolidate against revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin.
Learn MoreStudent Organizations
Miami University History Association (MUHA)
MUHA holds weekly meetings where we discuss historical topics in a fun, friendly atmosphere. We also have guest lectures from History Department faculty on their historical interests and research, play trivia, organize trips to historical sites and much more! Our meetings are held every Wednesday at 6:00 pm in UPH 258. Everyone is welcome!
Phi Alpha Theta (PAT) - National History Honor Society
Promotes the Study of History and is a professional society whose mission is to promote the study of History through encouraging research, good teaching, publication, and the exchange of learning and ideas among historians. We seek to bring students and teachers together for intellectual and social exchanges that promote and assist historical research and publication by our members in a variety of ways. For more information about the chapter and membership requirements, email Dr. Helen Sheumaker. sheumahd@miamioh.edu
Meet our affiliate faculty!
Department of History
Bachelor Hall 2014
301 S. Patterson Ave.
Oxford, OH 45056
