2024-2025

History, Master of Arts

Department of History

College of Arts and Letters

The history graduate program provides students with cutting-edge training in historical and historiographical knowledge and professional debates. Our curriculum emphasizes the inevitable connections between the local and the global through small seminars and close faculty guidance of student scholarship. Our strengths in the U.S. West and Borderlands are complemented by expertise in theoretical and thematic fields such as gender, environment, and race.

  • To receive a master’s degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete a planned group of courses from one or more subject areas, consisting of at least 30 units of graduate-level courses. Many master’s degree programs require more than 30 units.

    You must additionally complete:

    • All requirements for your specific academic plan(s). This may include a thesis.
    • All graduate work with a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0.
    • All work toward the master's degree must be completed within six consecutive years. The six years begins with the semester and year of admission to the program.

    Read the full policy here.

In addition to University Requirements:

  • Complete individual plan requirements.

Minimum Units for Completion 36
Additional Admission Requirements

Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.
Fieldwork Experience/Internship Optional
Thesis Thesis may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Comprehensive Exam Comprehensive Exam may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Oral Defense Oral Defense may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Foreign Language A foreign language may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Research Individualized research may be required by chosen emphasis or offered as an option.
Progression Plan Link View Program of Study
Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate Plan Optional

Purpose Statement

Located on the beautiful Colorado Plateau, our focus begins by understanding the relationship between this area and the history of the larger U.S. West and the thematic areas of Borderlands, Environment, and Indigeneity as well as broader connections of race, class, gender, and colonialism across the Americas and the world. Small seminars and close faculty-student mentorship ensure that students recognize the connections between local and global historical processes. Students also benefit from access to NAU’s Cline Library Special Collections, which offers unique research materials that document the diverse human and natural history of the Colorado Plateau and Northern Arizona, and Flagstaff is within driving distance to major research collections in Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque.

The history MA provides students with knowledge and skills that prepare them for diverse careers in historical interpretation, including academia, public history and cultural management, K-12 education, public administration, pre-law, and library science. There are three main paths – or tracks – to obtaining the degree. The research “track” prepares students for academia with close faculty mentorship of an extended, independent research project that culminates in a thesis. The extended coursework track allows students to deepen their content knowledge and hone their critical thinking and research skills for a wide variety of careers in the nonprofit and private sector; it is particularly popular with pre-service and in-service teachers who become qualified to teach dual-enrollment courses in high school. The public history track trains students for careers in historical and cultural interpretation and management through internships with the National Park Service, the Arizona Historical Society, Arizona State Parks, the Museum of Northern Arizona, and Lowell Observatory, among other institutions.

Whatever their career goals, all MA graduate students learn the key theories, methods, and debates of the historical discipline; learn how to evaluate historical arguments within a field of study; develop their research skills through collecting, analyzing, and interpreting primary and secondary sources; and learn how to craft well-supported historical narratives and arguments. Students on the public history track further learn the methods and ethics of gathering, preserving, and disseminating historical knowledge in public settings.

We are a student-centered program designed to start careers in a variety of professions. Regardless of student emphasis, all three tracks are designed to nurture close student-faculty relationships. Most full-time graduate students receive some type of departmental funding and are eligible for competitive teaching assistantships and department research grants for travel, research, and conferences. Students planning to teach for two years after obtaining the MA may be eligible for the Arizona Teachers Academy, which offers scholarships to cover fees and tuition. Our accelerated 4+1 program allows top-performing NAU undergraduates to enter the MA program in their junior year and complete a BA and MA in five years.


Student Learning Outcomes

Core History Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the key principles, theories, sources, and methods of the historical discipline.
  • Synthesize and evaluate the pertinent arguments and debates among historians in a historical field of study.
  • Demonstrate understanding of the connections between the local and the global in historical processes.
  • Produce research that makes an original and significant contribution to historical scholarship. This includes deploying these essential skills:
    • Review the state of the field and locate their work within larger scholarly conversations and relevant historiographies.
    • Retrieve and analyze archival materials, interpreting them within their cultural, social, political, environmental, etc. contexts.
    • Write a high-quality research paper that makes a persuasive argument and meets professional standards typical for conference presentations or academic publications.
Public History Learning Outcomes
  • Understand and evaluate the methods of gathering, preserving, and disseminating historical knowledge in public settings and then demonstrate their mastery of these approaches through individual and/or collaborative projects.

Graduate Admission Information

  • The NAU graduate online application is required for all programs. Admission to many graduate programs is on a competitive basis, and programs may have higher standards than those established by the Graduate College.

    Admission requirements include the following:

    • Transcripts.
    • Undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited institution with a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale ("A" = 4.0), or the equivalent.


    Visit the NAU Graduate Admissions website for additional information about graduate school application deadlines, eligibility for study, and admissions policies.

    Ready to apply? Begin your application now.

    International applicants have additional admission requirements. Please see the International Graduate Admissions Policy.

Additional Admission Requirements

  • Individual program admission requirements over and above admission to NAU are required.

    • Three letters of recommendation
    • A writing sample
    • A personal statement or essay
Master's Requirements

  • This Master degree requires 36 units distributed as follows:

    • Track Requirement - Select one: 36 units
      • Thesis Track
      • Public History Project Track
      • Portfolio Track
        • With Public History
        • Without Public History
     

    Select one of the following tracks (36 units):

  • Thesis Track (36 units)

    • Select one from the following (3 units):
    • HIS 592, HIS 603 (6 units)
    • HIS 600 - Preferably in the first semester (3 units)
    • HIS 602 - with a Grade of "B" or better (3 units).
      • You must complete HIS 602 with a Grade of "B" or better before enrolling in HIS 699.
    • HIS 699 - For the research, writing, and oral defense of an approved thesis (9 units)
      • You may end up taking more than the 9 units you can count toward your degree because you must enroll each semester while you work on your thesis.
    • Additional graduate-level coursework (12 units)
      • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.

    • Students must have an approved thesis prospectus or public history project prospectus by the end of their third semester or will be diverted to the Portfolio Track with Public History or the Portfolio Track without Public History Track.

      Depending on your research interest, your committee may require you to demonstrate competence in a foreign language before you register for thesis units.

    • Students selecting a thesis option are required to complete 18 units of formal letter-graded coursework.

  • Public History Project Track (36 units)

    • HIS 502, HIS 592, HIS 603 (9 units)
    • Select one from the following (3 units):
    • HIS 600 - Preferably in the first semester (3 units)
    • HIS 602 - with a Grade of "B" or better (3 units)
      • You must complete HIS 602 with a Grade of "B" or better before enrolling in HIS 699.
    • Select one from the following (3 units)
    • Public History Elective (3 units)
      • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.
    • Select one from the following (6 units)
      • HIS 689 - Final Project
      • HIS 699 - For the research, writing, and oral defense of an approved thesis.
        • You may end up taking more than the 6 units you can count toward your degree because you must enroll each semester while you work on your thesis.
    • Additional graduate-level coursework (6 units)
      • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.
    • Students selecting a coursework (track) option must complete 24 units of formal letter-graded coursework.
  • Portfolio Track (36 units)

    • With Public History (36 units)

      • HIS 502 (3 units)
      • Select one from the following (3 units)
      • HIS 592 (3 units)
      • HIS 597 (3 units)
      • HIS 600 - Preferably in the first semester (3 units)
      • HIS 602 - with a Grade of "B" or better (3 units)
      • Select one from the following (3 units)
      • Public History Elective (3 units)
        • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.
      • Additional graduate-level coursework (12 units)
        • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.

      You must have an approved public history portfolio and you must pass the extended coursework portfolio assessment.

      Students selecting a coursework (track) option must complete 24 units of formal letter-graded coursework.

    • Without Public History (36 units)

      • Select one from the following (3 units)
      • HIS 592 (3 units)
      • HIS 597 (3 units)
      • HIS 600 - Preferably in the first semester (3 units)
      • HIS 602 with a Grade of "B" or better (3 units)
      • Additional graduate-level coursework (21 units)
        • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.
       

      You must pass the required portfolio assessment.

    • Students selecting a non-thesis/coursework/track option must complete 24 units of formal letter-graded coursework.

Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's Program

    • This program is available as an Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate Plan wherein a student may start a master's degree while simultaneously completing their bachelor's degree.

    • Students enrolled at the Flagstaff campus for both undergraduate and graduate programs are eligible to complete the Bachelor of Arts in History and start a Master of Arts in History - Portfolio Track at NAU.

      OR

      Students enrolled at the Flagstaff campus for both undergraduate and graduate programs are eligible to complete the Bachelor of Science in History and start a Master of Arts in History - Portfolio Track at NAU.

    • Students must apply to the master's program by the graduate program's application deadline, meet all admissions requirements listed in the policy Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's Programs, as well as the admissions requirements for the specified master's plan to be considered for admission. Admission to programs is competitive and qualified applicants may be denied because of limits on the number of students admitted each year.

      Be sure to speak with the Master's Program Director/Coordinator regarding your interest in the accelerated plan.

    • Students accepted into the Accelerated Program should complete the following requirements:

    • Master's Requirements

      This Master's degree requires 36 units distributed as follows:

      • Portfolio Track - Select one: 36 units
        • With Public History
        • Without Public History

       

    • Portfolio Track With Public History (36 units)

      • Any 400-level HIS course (3 units)
      • HIS 498C (3 units)
      • HIS 502 (3 units)
      • Select one from the following (3 units)
      • HIS 592 (3 units)
      • HIS 597 (3 units)
      • HIS 600 - Preferably in the first semester (3 units)
      • HIS 602 - with a Grade of "B" or better (3 units)
      • Select one from the following (3 units)
      • Public History Elective (3 units)
        • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.
      • Additional graduate-level coursework (6 units)
        • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.

      You must have an approved public history portfolio and you must pass the extended coursework portfolio assessment.

      Students selecting a coursework (track) option must complete 24 units of formal letter-graded coursework.

    • Portfolio Track Without Public History (36 units)

      • Any 400-level HIS course (3 units)
      • HIS 498C (3 units)
      • Select one from the following (3 units)
      • HIS 592 (3 units)
      • HIS 597 (3 units)
      • HIS 600 - Preferably in the first semester (3 units)
      • HIS 602 with a Grade of "B" or better (3 units)
      • Additional graduate-level coursework (15 units)
        • Chosen in consultation with your advisor.

      You must pass the required portfolio assessment.

      Students selecting a coursework (track) option must complete 24 units of formal letter-graded coursework.
Additional Information

  • Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.