Advanced Certificates

Our Advanced Certificate Program in History is the perfect opportunity for history lovers who want to deepen their connections to the past. The Advanced Certificate – the only such program in the SUNY system - offers thorough and substantial graduate training for students whose intellectual life or career path would be enhanced by historical expertise, but who do not necessarily wish to devote their careers to the field.  It can be completed as a free-standing program, or in conjunction with another graduate or professional degree.

The Certificate is a perfect fit for graduate students in other departments whose research and/or career prospects would be enhanced by expertise in history. It's also ideal for professionals who have already completed their educations but who would benefit from scholarly historical training, such as teachers, public historians, historic preservationists, librarians and archivists.

In consultation with the Director of the MA Program, entering students decide upon a major area of historical study, typically drawn from the department's areas of research focus: Race, Empire and Nation; Medicine, Disability and Science; Early Modern Societies; and the Twentieth Century World. The student may instead select a comparative focus or a more topically oriented approach.

Fifteen credit hours of graduate History coursework are required.

At least one “Core” course (most of which are two semesters) chosen from selection below involving the student’s major area of interest:

• History 502-503: Core seminar in American History, 1607-Present (6 credits); both semesters of this two-semester course are required.
• History 504-505: Core seminar in European History, Early Modern and Modern (6 credits); both semesters of this two-semester course are required. 
• History 507: Core seminar in East Asian History (3 credits), a one-semester course.
• History 506: Core seminar in North and South Atlantic History (3 credits), a one-semester course. 
• History 559-560: Core seminar in Latin American and Caribbean History (6 credits); either semester of this two-semester course is required; both are recommended.

At least two 500-level reading seminars. One of these must be outside the student’s major area of interest (e.g., a non-U.S. course for a U.S. historian).

One 600-level research seminar.

Each MA student, after initial consultation with the Director of the Graduate Program, will select a faculty advisor by the end of their first year who will aid the student in developing an appropriate program of coursework.