PhD in History

The Five College graduate program in history is an unusual collaboration between the faculties of five campuses—UMass Amherst, Amherst, Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire—providing outstanding resources for advanced study. 

As a program, our priorities include: the cultivation of excellent research skills; the use of the five campuses’ exceptional resources to provide a professional training that combines intellectual breadth and historical focus; an emphasis on bringing history to a broad public and writing for a variety of audiences from professional to popular, national to local; and the promotion of diversity, both in the composition of our community and in the careers for which our students prepare.

The history program offers doctoral work in three major areas: Europe, United States, and Latin America, each of which is divided into various fields. Candidates choose an area of specialization and a major field within this area. Before embarking on their dissertation, candidates must pass the general examination in three fields. No more than two can be in the candidate’s area of specialization, and one may be in a field outside of the history program.