Certificate Name and Number: Contemporary History - CTCHIG
Department/Unit: College of Arts and Sciences
Delivery Mode: Athens Campus
Certificate Overview: The Ohio University Contemporary History Institute, created in 1987, offers a unique course of interdisciplinary study, mainly on the graduate level, that trains students to apply historical perspectives in analyzing recent events and contemporary policy issues. The Institute is centered in the Department of History, but it also draws faculty and students from the departments of Economics and Political Science, the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism, and the Honors Tutorial College.
The Institute does not, in itself, grant degrees. Instead, it offers a Certificate in Contemporary History, which serves as an adjunct to the M.A. and Ph.D. programs in history, the M.A. degrees in economics and political science, the M.S. degree in journalism, and the Ph.D. degree in mass communications.
Students receive the Institute’s certificate after successfully completing a sequence of interdisciplinary CHI seminars and tutorials focusing on methodologies, themes, and issues in contemporary history, and after writing a thesis or dissertation on a contemporary history topic that meets the requirements of the student’s degree-granting department.
Opportunities upon Completion: The Contemporary History certificate, when combined with a traditional graduate degree in history, political science, economics, or journalism, opens a wide range of career opportunities for students interested in the application of history to current problems. Among the most important are employment in academia, government, journalism, telecommunications, business, and law. Students earning the certificate with the M.A. or M.S. degree are also in a strong position to pursue further graduate education at the doctoral level at Ohio University or elsewhere.
Link to Certificate: http://www.ohio.edu/cas/conhist/index.cfm
Graduation Requirements: In addition to meeting the degree requirements of their respective departments, Contemporary History Institute students take three core courses in contemporary history. Two of these courses are seminars offered consecutively during the fall and spring semesters of the Ohio University academic year. The third course is an individual tutorial, internship, or elective.
- CH 6010 - Introduction to Contemporary History
- CH 6020 - Issues in Contemporary History
- CH 6900 - Special Topics in Contemporary History Institute
- CH 6930 - Special Project in Contemporary History
Admission Requirements: Students should apply for admission to a Ph.D. or master’s program in one of the Institute’s four participating departments:
- History (M.A. or Ph.D.)
- Political Science (M.A.)
- Economics (M.A.)
- Journalism (M.S.)
Once students have applied to one of the Ph.D. or master’s programs listed above, they must indicate Contemporary History as the area in which they choose to work.
The Contemporary History Institute Admissions Committee will evaluate applications only after admission has been granted in one of the participating departments. The CHI Admissions Committee gives considerable weight to grade-point averages, Graduate Record Examination scores, letters of recommendation, individual writing samples, and proposed fields of study. All applicants to the Institute will be automatically considered for fellowships.
Return to: