After the completion of the M.A., or the acceptance into the program with a M.A. in History from another school, the coursework portion of the Ph.D. program should normally take one year to complete. During this time, students further build their regional expertise and engage with the themes and methods of transnational history. They also acquire the necessary methodological and linguistic skills to conduct the kind of research their doctoral dissertation requires. The coursework portion of the Ph.D. program ends with the completion of the comprehensive exam and the defense of their doctoral overview. Ph.D. candidates are no longer required to take classes, but spend their time conducting research and writing their dissertations. The Ph.D. program ends with the defense of the doctoral dissertation, ideally within three years after the defense of the doctoral overview.
For detailed information on the requirements, please see the Graduate Handbook.