Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Graduate
Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Major [UG] / Program [Grad]
Program Name: History PhD (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
Faculty are required to fill out an evaluation form at the end of the semester for each graduate student in every course. The form asks not only for the student’s grade, but asks for specific details about student performance and achievements. Faculty are asked whether they recommend that the student continue in the program. The Director of Graduate Studies reads all the evaluation forms at the end of each semester. The DGS also consults with faculty about specific graduate students whose performance has raised questions.
A key requirement for the PhD program is the completion of two graduate seminars in which students write a formal research paper based on extensive primary source research. Faculty evaluations of student performance in seminars is taken especially seriously as a test of the student’s progress in the program.
During the third year in the program, PhD students are required do take an oral comprehensive exam in three historical fields, and to complete a Dissertation Proposal written in the course of attending our Dissertation Seminar.
The most important assessment is the dissertation. This is a book-length work of original research, based on primary sources and an exhaustive review of the relevant scholarly literature. Most of our students spend extensive time in one or more archives or libraries while conducting their dissertation research. Students must defend the completed dissertation in a public forum, approved by three or four faculty members (an advisor and three additional faculty members).
The Director of Graduate Studies meets every year with each student (through year 3 in the program) to discuss the student’s progress and answer questions. After the comprehensive exams are completed, the student is supervised by a faculty advisor who meets regularly with the student and assesses progress toward the degree. The DGS is in regular contact with all PhD advisors about their students.
Review Process:
The Director of Graduate Studies and the student’s advisor and teachers interpret the evidence of the student’s progress. The DGS monitors all student progress, and consults with advisors and the students’ teachers as a result of reviewing grades and faculty evaluations at the end of each semester. The Graduate Programs Assistant plays an important role in the process by flagging issues of special concern and calling them to the attention of the DGS.
The DGS meets regularly with a Graduate Committee of three faculty members and the Graduate Programs Assistant to evaluate PhD program requirements, course offerings, and career preparation.
Resulting Program Changes:
Our primary efforts at refining our PhD program requirements and offerings has been aimed at improving our students’ digital skills, and helping to prepare them for an array of career options beyond the academic professoriate.
This year Virginia Reinburg (DGS) and Dana Sajdi (graduate placement director) attended a Career Diversity Institute sponsored by the American Historical Association. The DGS also attended numerous AHA sponsored webinars about careers development for PhDs students and PhDs in History. As a result of what Reinburg and Sajdi learned, the department plans to take a closer look at the learning objectives of the PhD program next year. An issue on our agenda is how well prepared our PhD graduates are for careers in teaching, public history and archives, and other fields. The History Department also held a meeting of faculty members with James Grossman, the Director of the American Historical Association, and Emily Swafford, the Career Development Director at the AHA, where we compared our PhD program to PhD programs at peer institutions across North America, and discussed potential modifications to the program requirements and curriculum. The large faculty attendance at the meeting and lively discussion will provide a foundation for future discussions that Reinburg and Sajdi plan to host during 2021–22.
We have recently taken steps to expand and refine the skills that our PhD students gain in our program and the competencies they can take with them into the job market. Our primary achievement this year (several years in preparation) is the inauguration of the new Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate. The DH certificate program is directed by a faculty member (currently Marilynn Johnson of the History Department), and has a board of advisors from humanities departments. The program is a collaborative effort between humanities departments and the digital scholarship team in O’Neill Library. The DH certificate consists of three courses: an introductory course (taught by digital scholarship librarians, all of them holding doctorates), a second graduate course in which the student completes a DH project, and a capstone course (also taught by digital scholarship librarians). The introductory course was taught for the first time in spring 2021, and attracted 15 students, mostly from the History Department and many of them PhD students.
For more information on the DH certificate program see https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/history/graduate/certificate-in-digital-humanities.html .
The History Department has also been an enthusiastic supporter of the initiative organized by Mary Crane of the Institute for the Liberal Arts, a pilot program of internships for PhD students for the summer of 2021. Some of our students applied for these internships and will work on campus (O’Neill Library, the McMullen Museum this summer.
The Graduate Placement Director will work next year on a program of additional pedagogical training for our PhD students, together with specialists at the Center for Teaching Excellence.
The Department is also monitoring the teaching load that our PhD students carry as Teaching Assistants in our Core courses. In this the DGS works actively with the Department Chair and Director of the History Core.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
Our primary efforts at refining our PhD program requirements and offerings has been aimed at improving our students’ digital skills, and helping to prepare them for an array of career options beyond the academic professoriate.
This year Virginia Reinburg (DGS) and Dana Sajdi (graduate placement director) attended a Career Diversity Institute sponsored by the American Historical Association. The DGS also attended numerous AHA sponsored webinars about careers development for PhDs students and PhDs in History. As a result of what Reinburg and Sajdi learned, the department plans to take a closer look at the learning objectives of the PhD program next year. An issue on our agenda is how well prepared our PhD graduates are for careers in teaching, public history and archives, and other fields. The History Department also held a meeting of faculty members with James Grossman, the Director of the American Historical Association, and Emily Swafford, the Career Development Director at the AHA, where we compared our PhD program to PhD programs at peer institutions across North America, and discussed potential modifications to the program requirements and curriculum. The large faculty attendance at the meeting and lively discussion will provide a foundation for future discussions that Reinburg and Sajdi plan to host during 2021–22.
We have recently taken steps to expand and refine the skills that our PhD students gain in our program and the competencies they can take with them into the job market. Our primary achievement this year (several years in preparation) is the inauguration of the new Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate. The DH certificate program is directed by a faculty member (currently Marilynn Johnson of the History Department), and has a board of advisors from humanities departments. The program is a collaborative effort between humanities departments and the digital scholarship team in O’Neill Library. The DH certificate consists of three courses: an introductory course (taught by digital scholarship librarians, all of them holding doctorates), a second graduate course in which the student completes a DH project, and a capstone course (also taught by digital scholarship librarians). The introductory course was taught for the first time in spring 2021, and attracted 15 students, mostly from the History Department and many of them PhD students.
For more information on the DH certificate program see https://www.bc.edu/content/bc-web/schools/mcas/departments/history/graduate/certificate-in-digital-humanities.html .
The History Department has also been an enthusiastic supporter of the initiative organized by Mary Crane of the Institute for the Liberal Arts, a pilot program of internships for PhD students for the summer of 2021. Some of our students applied for these internships and will work on campus (O’Neill Library, the McMullen Museum this summer.
The Graduate Placement Director will work next year on a program of additional pedagogical training for our PhD students, together with specialists at the Center for Teaching Excellence.
The Department is also monitoring the teaching load that our PhD students carry as Teaching Assistants in our Core courses. In this the DGS works actively with the Department Chair and Director of the History Core.
Attachments (if available)