Why Graduate Study in the Kent State University Department of History?

Study with Innovative Faculty in an Exciting Intellectual Environment

The Department of History at Kent State University is composed of dedicated faculty committed to scholarly inquiry.  A large portion of this excellent faculty specializes in the history of the modern era, especially Twentieth-Century U.S., Europe, and Africa.  The Department offers a rigorous M. A., including a concentration in Public History and an option for Practicing Teachers.  M.A. students take core courses in Historiography and Methods, enroll in research seminars and reading colloquia with doctoral students, and have the option to conduct original research and write a thesis.  All of our doctoral students include a transnational field in their programs that encourages study across geographical areas; all doctoral appointees have the opportunity to teach their own classes once they pass comprehensive exams, which means they have real teaching experience when they hit the job market.  While doctoral students participate in the formal consortial relationship between the history departments of the University of Akron and Kent State University, in practice, graduate students at both levels can take coursework at the partner institution.  The size of our program allows for close interaction between faculty and graduate students at all levels.

Kent State University is a large public university located in Northeast Ohio. With more than 33,000 students combined at the Kent campus and seven regional campuses, Kent State is ranked among the nation’s top 77 public research universities, demonstrating its high level of research activity, by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Small-town Life near the Heart of it All

The university is located in Kent, Ohio (pop. 30,000), a city with many of the advantages of a small community but nearby many of the premier cultural destinations of the region. It is only a short drive to Akron (11 miles) and to Cleveland (33 miles) to take advantage of most of those opportunities.

Northeast Ohio’s cultural institutions include symphony orchestras, museums of art and natural history, as well as the NFL and Rock and Roll halls of fame.  In addition, the region possesses a wide variety of recreational facilities and opportunities: a national park; numerous municipal parks, hiking and biking trails; lakes with boating opportunities; and, of course, Cleveland and Akron team sports for spectators.  Northeast Ohio is ethnically diverse and its many communities hold numerous festivals throughout the year.

The region is ideally suited for students of history, boasting a number of valuable archival repositories, including the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the Great Lakes Science Center, and Hale Farm and Village.