Renowned faculty • Supportive environment • All students fully funded
The University of Notre Dame’s Ph.D. in History combines innovative approaches to the study of the past with a steadfast commitment to slow information: facts in context, fine-grained detail, archival research, and long-form communication pitched both to academic and popular audiences. Working closely with our distinguished faculty, our graduate students produce original scholarship that makes major contributions to historical knowledge, share their contributions in public settings and as published work, and develop their skills as teachers.
I initially chose Notre Dame’s history department not just because of my advisers’ expertise, but because I realized the department as a whole was invested in graduate student success. I was struck by the commitment of Notre Dame to get its graduates out in a timely manner while still providing ample support through fellowships, conference travel funds, and research grants. And while Notre Dame’s department boasts a wide array of scholarly expertise, it was their care and support as people that really made the difference for me.”
— John Nelson, Ph.D. ’20, Assistant Professor of Early North American History at Texas Tech University
Our Program
Our distinguished Ph.D. program is renowned for its high-achieving students and scholarly rigor. We offer an intensive and supportive academic experience in Medieval, Latin American, United States, and European history.
We also encourage the development of studies in area clusters such as early modern history, Atlantic, global, and religious and intellectual histories. We are continuing to build a community of faculty and graduate scholars who are interested in the historical study of capitalism, environmentalism, law, gender, and geopolitics on an international scale.
Before starting this program, I lacked self confidence in my work and my intellectual capacities. Through rigorous course work, the caring graduate student community, and constant care and attention from the faculty here, I have gained the skills to be successful in my field. I have never seen myself improve in such a short amount of time. As a second year Ph.D. student, I am looking forward to developing my ideas further as I continue to interact with the department.”
— Grace Song, current Ph.D. student
Our Faculty
Notre Dame’s Department of History is one of the preeminent humanities departments in the United States.
With more than 40 core faculty members, we are large enough to cover nearly every region of the world and period of time, and we are small enough to sustain close connections between faculty and students at all levels.
In addition, our faculty have expertise in diverse subfields with interdisciplinary reach and actively affiliate and work with other centers and institutes on campus, such as the Medieval Institute, Institute for Advanced Study, Gender Studies Program, Initiative for Race and Resilience, and the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values.
Graduate education is a core mission of ND History, and grad students themselves are so essential to the life of our active academic community. While they can count on collaborative mentorship from faculty in their field, they’re also afforded the opportunity to study, research, and write beyond areas of specialization, engage in interdisciplinary scholarship across campus, participate in a variety of international initiatives, and imagine (and prepare for) multiple vocational paths as History Ph.D.s"
— Darren Dochuk, Andrew V. Tackes College Professor of History; Director of Graduate Studies
Our Opportunities
Notre Dame has extensive library collections and archives here on campus and a strong network of international facilities and scholarly partnerships around the world. Our faculty and students enjoy strong support from the University’s premier international institutes including the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Kroc Institute for Peace Studies, Nanovic Institute for European Studies, Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, and Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.
As the University continues to grow and prosper, we are positioned to increase our impact on a global scale. Notre Dame’s international connections, as well as its financial and institutional support of graduate research and training abroad, enable our Ph.D. students to broaden the reach of their scholarship.
Our graduate students receive highly competitive financial support including full tuition scholarships, stipends, and health-insurance subsidies, as well as funding for research and conference travel.
Those who complete the Ph.D. in five years are eligible for a sixth-year postdoctoral fellowship from the College or Arts and Letters designed to enhance their professional profile through either a Teaching and Research Track or an Internship Track.
Our Placement
Our graduate alumni are active in a variety of exciting careers.
Recent academic appointments include tenure-track positions at the University of Alabama, Baylor University, Pepperdine University, Texas Tech University, Valparaiso University, and Catholic University of America. Other graduates have gone on to administrative positions at the University of Chicago, Villanova University, Oklahoma State, and the University of Illinois. Non-academic careers for which our department also seeks to train students include work in archives, museum curation, public history, government, the nonprofit sector, and private industry.
More so than even its world-class academic centers, archives, and library collections, Notre Dame’s greatest resource is its people. Throughout my time on campus, mentors encouraged, supported, and challenged me to grow as a scholar and professional. My dissertation research greatly benefitted from faculty members’ diverse perspectives and research strengths. Opportunities within the History department as well as from across the university further allowed me to develop skills applicable to a variety of careers.”
— Andrew Mach, Academic Advisor, University of Michigan
Notre Dame’s History Ph.D. prepared me to enter and thrive in academia. I thrived because of the Department’s financial support, teaching load, and deep faculty expertise. My advisor gave me the gift of historiographical and archival training, thoughtful shaping of my first project, and introductions/connections with historians who are now my colleagues in the field. In all of my time in graduate school, I never encountered or heard of a better advisor. Thank you!”
— Maria Cecelia Ulrickson, Assistant Professor of American Church History, The Catholic University of America