Guide to Graduate Fields of Study & Major Professors
The following information is designed to help applicants complete the Preferred Fields of Study Form (for M.A. and for Ph.D.), which must be submitted with the application materials. Please use the form to advise the Graduate Studies Committee as to your preference(s) regarding primary fields, secondary fields, and major professors.
Primary Fields
An individual professor will serve as a major professor of a Ph.D. student in a primary field. The professor will be responsible for the student’s preliminary examination in the primary field and will mentor the student’s doctoral dissertation.
| Colonial and Early Republic | Lawrence Hatter |
|---|---|
| 19th Century U.S. | Peter Boag
Jennifer Thigpen |
| Modern U.S. | Robert Bauman (TC) Peter Boag Rob McCoy Laurie Mercier (V) Jeff Sanders Matt Sutton |
| U.S. Foreign Relations | Noriko Kawamura |
| U.S. Women and Gender | Peter Boag Laurie Mercier (V) Jennifer Thigpen |
| U.S. Environment | Peter Boag Jeff Sanders |
| U.S. West | Robert Bauman (TC) |
| U.S. Race and Ethnicity | Robert Bauman (TC) Rob McCoy Laurie Mercier (V) |
| Atlantic World | Candice Goucher (V) Lawrence Hatter Sue Peabody (V) |
| Reformation Europe | Jesse Spohnholz |
| 18th Century Europe | Sue Peabody (V) |
| Modern Britain | Ashley Wright |
| Modern France | Steven Kale |
| Modern Germany | Ray Sun |
| Modern Russia/Soviet Union/Post-Soviet | Brigit Farley (TC) Steven Hoch (TC) |
| Modern China | David Pietz Xiuyu Wang (V) |
| Modern Japan | Emily Anderson |
| West Africa | Candice Goucher (V) Joel Tishken |
| Colonial Africa | Candice Goucher (V) Joel Tishken |
(V) = Vancouver Campus
(TC) = Tri Cities Campus
General Fields
Each field will have a coordinator, who will be responsible for coordinating 1) the field's preliminary examination and 2) the initial mentor screening of graduate applications (M.A. and Ph.D.) for the field. The coordinator will also serve on the Graduate Studies Committee.
| U.S. | Robert Bauman (TC) Peter Boag Lawrence Hatter Noriko Kawamura Rob McCoy Laurie Mercier (V) Jeff Sanders Matt Sutton Orlan Svingen Jennifer Thigpen |
| Early Modern Europe | Sue Peabody (V) Jesse Spohnholz |
| Modern Europe | Brigit Farley (TC) Steven Hoch (TC) Steven Kale Ray Sun |
| Public | Robert Bauman (TC) Rob McCoy Laurie Mercier (V) Orlan Svingen |
| East Asia | Emily Anderson David Pietz Xiuyu Wang (V) |
| World | Candice Goucher (V) Sue Peabody (V) Joel Tishken |
(V) = Vancouver Campus
(TC) = Tri-Cities Campus
World/Comparative Field (Ph.D. students only)
All Ph.D. students, exccept those who take World History as their General Field,* must take 9 credits of graduate courses to fulfill the requirements of World/Comparative Field as their complementary field. The World/Comparative Field will havedual purposes of (1) providing opportunities that allow students to learn and explore global and comparative perspectives of students' research subjects, and (2) offering credible training in world history as a teaching field. All students are required to take 570, 571, and one more field course (either 571, a graduate field course outside their General Field, or a 400- or 500-level course outside History. They must pass all three courses with the minimun grade of B+. No preliminary examination is required for the World/Comparative Field.
*Students who pursue World History as their General Field must define their complementary field in consultation with their major professor, and take at least 9 credits of graduate field courses that will focus on specific geographic areas outside their Primary Field, or 6 credits of those courses and one course outside discipline of history.
(V) = Vancouver Campus
(TC) = Tri-Cities Campus