Graduate Program Overview

As a comprehensive state university West Chester offers one of the most affordable masters' level graduate programs in the region. The Department offers both the Master of Arts (M.A.) in History and the Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Social Studies: History Concentration. A full range of late afternoon and evening graduate courses and seminars enables both full-time and part-time students to complete either program at their own pace, within a six-year limit.

With 15 full-time faculty members, the Department has specialists in many areas of European and United States history as well as African, Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern studies. The Department believes that close interaction between faculty and students is an integral part of graduate education. As part of that philosophy, the faculty values both excellent teaching and active scholarship.

Graduate history courses at WCU enhance the ability of students to:

Construct generalizations and interpretations that demonstrate an advanced knowledge of historical eras, change over time, and key historical concepts in the history of the United States, Western Civilization, and global civilization.
Communicate effectively at the graduate level (in both oral and written presentations) their advanced knowledge of history in reasoned arguments supported by historical evidence and an appreciation of multiple causes, effects, and perspectives.
Locate, distinguish between, and assess primary and secondary sources, and to analyze and interpret a variety of written, oral, visual, and material evidence at an advanced level (Information Literacy).
Connect their advanced knowledge of historical events and topics to a broader context (historical, historiographical, political, global, or with contemporary life and issues).