Ph.D. Program

Full-Time Enrollment

In order to remain eligible for financial support, all graduate students must be enrolled in 12 units of upper-division (100-199) or graduate level (200 and above) courses during the regular academic year. 

Pre-Candidacy

First and foremost, all coursework should be chosen in consultation with your faculty advisor. During your first three years in the program your aim will be to fulfill the following requirements:

• Ph.D. Course Requirements (mainly major field requirements)
• Minor Field Requirement
• Language Requirement
• MA on the Way Course Requirements

The course requirements for the Ph.D. and MA on the Way largely overlap and only represent about four quarters worth of coursework. The additional five quarters of coursework should be chosen in consultation with your faculty advisor. In some cases, you may take courses to fulfill requirements for the minor field or language requirements. Many of you will enroll in a 500 class and all of you will enroll in one or more HIGR 298s. Regardless, all the coursework completed while pre-candidacy should be taken in preparation for your Qualifying Exam (which you can also think of as your major field exam). 

Newly admitted students should consult with their faculty advisor about all coursework they plan to take throughout their time in the Ph.D. program. During their first quarter in the program, most students are encouraged to enroll as follows: 

• HIGR 200
• Research Seminar or another course chosen in consultation w/ your faculty advisor
• Major Field Historiography or another course chosen in consultation w/ your faculty advisor

In-Candidacy

At this stage in the program, enrollment in courses is less about what courses a student is taking and more about accounting for how the student is spending their time researching or teaching and accounting for the time of the faculty who are supporting them in writing their dissertation. Most students enroll in 8-12 units of HIGR 299 and/or 4 units of a 500 depending on how they are spending their time.

About Courses

Research Seminars
Each field group offers at least one two-quarter research seminar each year so that students have the opportunity to take one research seminar each year, preferably during the first two years of study. The goal of these seminars is the writing of a research paper based on primary sources, and the identification of a potential dissertation topic. The model and the standard for the seminar papers is a monographic article that makes a scholarly contribution to the field. In the first quarter of the course, students read and research intensively; by the end of the quarter, they are expected to develop a prospectus for a research paper. When materials are not in English, it is assumed that the student can use the appropriate language in research. The instructor provides guidance on research methods and the appropriate bibliographic tools. The selection of the paper topic requires special care to ensure that the paper can be completed within the two quarters. In the second quarter, students write their papers and present them to the seminar. In addition, the instructors may encourage students to submit their research seminar papers to be presented at various conferences and/or to be published. Please see the Field-Specific Curriculum below for a listing of field-specific research seminar courses.

Historiographies
Each field group has a sequence of seminars, taught over the course of 1-2 years, designed to introduce students to the major works and important controversies in the field. Please see the Field-Specific Curriculum below for a listing of field-specific Historiography courses.

Crossfield Courses
In addition to the graduate courses offered by the Field Groups, the Department will offer at least one and up to three cross-field seminars each year (HIGR 200 – HIGR 209, HIGR 280-282, etc.).  These courses are designed to cross geographical and chronological boundaries.  All Ph.D. students are required to complete HIGR 200, usually during their first quarter of the program.

HIGR 298-Directed Reading
This is a variable unit (may be taken for 1-12 units) independent study course that may be taken with a senate faculty member in the history department. It can be used to fulfill all of the requirements listed above if there is no other course offered in a given quarter to meet your particular research needs. It is most often used to account for the time a student is working on their prospectus in the quarters leading up to the qualifying exam. 

HIGR 299-PhD Thesis Direction
HIGR 299 is also a variable unit (may be taken for 1-12 units) independent study course that a student enrolls in with their faculty advisor/committee chair or any other faculty member who is supporting them in writing their dissertation. In short, if a student is asking a faculty person to read a dissertation chapter or otherwise meeting with the student to discuss their dissertation research the student should be enrolled in HIGR 299 units with them. If a student is on fellowship doing research (in-residence or in-absentia) the expectation is that they are enrolled in 12 units of HIGR 299 with their faculty advisor/committee chair.

500 Courses
500 courses are the instructional component to Teaching Assistantships. In general, this course is meant to account for the time you will spend learning to be an instructor and preparing to teach. The level of instruction and support you will receive is dependent upon by whom a student is employed and the requirements and expectations of this course vary (so read that syllabus very closely). Usually, beginning in a student's second year they'll enroll in a 4 unit 500 course and 8 units of other course work. In the event you accept a TAship where a 500 course is not available, speak to your advisor and/or the Graduate Coordinator about an appropriate alternative.

A normal full-time program consists of twelve units (or three four-unit courses) per quarter. Ph.D. students are expected to complete at least one of the following minimum formal courses of study prior to their qualifying examination:

Students are encouraged to take their first research seminar in their major field during the initial year of graduate study.

After the first year, most students' full-time program includes two regular academic courses each quarter (8 units), and enrollment in a 500 course (four units), like HIGR 500, as a component of a student's employment as a 50% Teaching Assistant.

The major field book list should be drawn up by the student in consultation with the faculty adviser. Each major field list will reflect the unique interests of the student, while also incorporating core themes of the field. Some field groups have formal core lists that may comprise a part of each student’s total list, while others do not. In all cases, students are expected to organize their major field lists according to the specific themes/nations/issues that have informed their graduate study, since no major field list can be all-inclusive. The number of titles on a major field list should be around 100, with 80–120 titles representing a reasonable range.

The exam for the major field is the oral qualifying exam/advancement to candidacy. Unlike the minor field and language requirements, no documentation of completing the major field is needed ahead of the qualifying exam. 

Minor Field Completion Timeline

Ph.D. candidates are strongly encouraged to take at least one minor field examination by the end of the first year and to complete the second minor exam by the end of the second year.  All minor fields must be completed before the major field/oral qualifying exam can be taken.  

Minor Field Types

Generally, the department recognizes two types of minor fields:

Minor Field Reading Lists

The Minor field is defined by a reading list agreed upon by the student and the minor field adviser(s).  The list is intended to establish what will be expected of the student and to prevent confusion over the material to be covered. As a guideline, the reading list should:

• encompass about three quarters’ worth of coursework(which may be taken with up to three faculty members)
• include about 50 titles, with 40-70 titles representing a reasonable range, depending on the combination of books and articles.  
• be finalized at the beginning of the quarter during which the student plans to complete the minor field

Minor Field Evaluation

Completion or evaluation of a minor field takes several forms, depending on the policies of different field groups or individual professors.

• A one-hour oral examination
• A three-hour or twenty-four-hour take-home written exam
• An “un-timed” synthetic essay, 25-30 pages, that organizes the scholarship of the field
• Three shorter papers (8-10 pages) each encompassing a single quarter’s worth of reading. (This option is especially appropriate in cases (like the Global History minor field) where the student is working with more than one faculty member on a minor field.)
• Developing a course syllabus in the field

Minor Exam Failure

Students who fail a minor field examination may petition the Graduate Committee for permission to sit for the examination again at any time during the following two quarters, as long as pre-candidacy time limits are not exceeded.  A second failure results automatically in dismissal from the program.

About the Global History Minor Field

The Global History Minor Field is usually completed by taking the three courses listed below:

HIGR 280 (required)
HIGR 281 (required)
HIGR 282

Students may use other courses in place of HIGR 282 to fulfill the requirements for the Global History minor field but should consult with Jeremy Presthodt or Uli Strasser prior to taking the class. Further, Jeremy or Uli should be listed as the minor field approver when you submit the Report of the Minor Field Exam. 

Language Requirements by Field

These are baseline requirements. Please consult your faculty advisor about what specific languages would be appropriate for your project.

• Ph.D. candidates in European and Latin American history must demonstrate competency in two foreign languages.
• Ph.D. candidates in East Asian history must demonstrate proficiency in the appropriate language(s), as decided in consultation with the advisor.
• Ph.D. candidates in History of Science and United States history, as well as M.A. candidates in European and Latin American history, must demonstrate competency in one foreign language.
• Ph.D. candidates in Ancient history require two modern foreign languages, as well as the relevant ancient languages.
• Ph.D. candidates in Middle Eastern history must possess a sound foundation in reading Arabic or Turkish (Ottoman Turkish or modern Turkish) as a requirement for admission to the program. Reading competence in two languages in addition to English is required before advancement to candidacy: the regional language Arabic or Turkish above, and a modern European language (other than English) related to the major field of specialization.

Additional languages appropriate to the special field of study as well as language requirements for a candidate in fields other than those already mentioned may be required by the Graduate Committee in consultation with the student's major field adviser.

Completing the Language Requirement

Students may satisfy the foreign language requirement in one of the following ways:

1. By completing, with a grade of B- or better in each term, a two-year language sequence from the student's undergraduate institution. Such a sequence must have been completed within two years of the time the request is made to the Graduate Committee for certification of competency.
2. By completing, while a graduate student, a two-year, lower-division sequence in the language approved by the Graduate Committee, with a satisfactory (S) grade in each term.
3. By completing, while a graduate student, a one-year upper-division sequence in the language approved by the Graduate Committee, with a satisfactory (S) grade in each term.
4. By passing a translation examination administered by the department. (This is the only option available for Chinese and Japanese.) A faculty examiner chooses a text that is approximately 3-4 paragraphs, and historical in nature. Students are given two hours (three hours for Latin) to take the exam and are permitted the use of a dictionary. The criteria for evaluation are somewhat subjective but will focus on the grasp of meaning and concepts, rather than word for word translation. Exams will also be offered twice a year, once in the fall quarter and once in the spring quarter. Students may also petition the graduate coordinator to take them at an alternate time. At the beginning of the fall and spring quarters, the graduate coordinator will poll students about their intentions to be tested and will schedule an exam time, usually in the sixth week of classes.

Language Completion Timeline

Students are urged to complete at least one foreign language examination by the end of the first year of study and must do so by the beginning of the third year of study. Failure to meet this requirement is grounds for denial of financial support. No student may take the oral qualifying examination before completing all language requirements.

The Report of the Language Exam (PDF) is used to document the completion of a language. Please use the Report of the Language Exam DocuSign power form under the Departmental Forms section of the webpage to document the completion of the language requirement for all instances except the department administered translation exam.

About the Committee

The Qualifying Exam and Dissertation Defense are conducted by a student's Dissertation Committee. The Dissertation Committee is comprised of at least four members. A minimum of two members must be faculty members of the Department of History, and usually, they will be in the student’s major field. The third can be either a faculty member from inside the department but outside the major field or someone from another department. The fourth must be a tenured faculty member in another department. The student’s minor field advisor(s), whether inside the department or in another department, often serve in this “outside” capacity on the committee, although this is not required.

Committee Constitution

Students should consult with their faculty advisor about the composition of the examining committee well before their qualifying exam. In addition, the membership of the committee must be approved by the department chair and the dean of Graduate Studies before the exam. The student must submit the Committee Constitution Request form below to the Graduate Coordinator at least one month (the earlier the better) prior to their Qualifying Exam. The Graduate Division website has additional information about committees and a Committee Membership Table which may be helpful in determining what role a faculty member may serve on your committee. Please also review the committee requirements in the Graduate Student Handbook. A few notes about that:

• Four of your members must be UC San Diego faculty.
• One member must be a UC San Diego tenured or emeritus faculty who is outside the History Department (e.g. Literature, Communications, Anthropology, Ethnic Studies, etc.).
• Faculty members who are not part of the UC system may only serve as the fifth member of the committee. In order for this person to serve on your committee, you will need to submit:
  • a copy of their CV, and;
  • a letter of support from your advisor

Constituting Your Committee

The completed committee form must be electronically submitted to the Graduate Division by the Graduate Coordinator no later than two weeks prior to the date scheduled for the qualifying examination/dissertation defense. Please use the Committee Constitution Request form to request that the Graduate Coordinator submit a constitution of your committee to the Graduate Division. This request should be made at least one month prior to your Qualifying Exam:

Reconstituting Your Committee

The completed committee form must be electronically submitted to the Graduate Division by the Graduate Coordinator no later than four weeks prior to the date scheduled for the dissertation defense. Please use the Committee Reconstitution Request form to request that the Graduate Coordinator submit a reconstitution of your committee to the Graduate Division. Unless someone has asked to be removed from your committee, changes to your committee should be made no earlier than two quarters before you plan to defend and must be made at least one month prior to your Defense. If someone has asked to be removed, depending on the role they are serving, you may not be able to reconstitute your committee until you find someone to replace them.

Committee Management

It is the responsibility of the student, in consultation with their advisor/committee chair, to ensure the policy-appropriate participation of all committee members at their Qualifying Exam and Dissertation Defense. This includes documenting each committee member's participation by obtaining the original signatures of all committee members on the necessary documents for both of those events.

Necessary Documents for the Qualifying Exam

• Report of the Qualifying Exam (routed for signature by the Graduate Coordinator)

Necessary Documents for the Dissertation Defense

• Final Report (routed for signature by the Graduate Coordinator)

Scheduling Your Qualifying Exam 

Please submit the History Exam Card at least one month prior to exam to ensure the department is able to prepare all necessary paperwork and room reservations by your exam. 

Scheduling Your Qualifying Exam

Qualifying Exam Timeline

Students are expected to take their qualifying examination no later than the spring of their third year of study. Students must fulfill all coursework, minor field, and language requirements before taking the qualifying examination. 

Qualifying Exam Administrative Checklist

About the Qualifying Exam

The qualifying examination is an oral test in the student’s major field of study, conducted by the student's Dissertation Committee. The purpose of the major field oral examination is twofold: 1) to evaluate the student’s knowledge of the major research field and 2) to discuss the student’s dissertation project (with the exception of the US field, which holds a separate meeting for this purpose, no later than two months after the exam).

The exam lasts between two and three hours and is structured to give each of the five committee members an opportunity to ask questions of the student, based on the major field reading list. When the prospectus is also under discussion, usually the last half-hour is reserved for this purpose. When the exam is over, the student leaves the room and the committee decides whether the student has passed the exam and advanced to candidacy.

1. The major field book list should be drawn up by the student in consultation with the faculty adviser and should be finalized at least thirty days before the date of the exam. Each major field list will reflect the unique interests of the student, while also incorporating core themes of the field. Some field groups have formal core lists that may comprise a part of each student’s total list, while others do not. In all cases, students are expected to organize their major field lists according to the specific themes/nations/issues that have informed their graduate study, since no major field list can be all-inclusive. The number of titles on a major field list should be around 100, with 80–120 titles representing a reasonable range. The date of the examination is determined by consultation between the candidate and the examining committee.
2. The discussion of the dissertation project will be framed by a five- to ten-page prospectus written by the student and submitted to the committee with the book list at least four weeks before the exam. The purpose of the discussion is to determine the feasibility of the scope of the project and to offer suggestions about source materials and research strategies.

Qualifying Exam Failure

Should a student fail the examination, the examining committee will clarify the weaknesses in the exam, so that the student can prepare to take it a second time. If a second oral examination is warranted, the department requires that it should be taken no later than one quarter after the first examination. If the student fails the oral examination a second time, his or her graduate studies in the department will be terminated.

Previous Graduate Study

The various requirements noted above apply to students who have done no previous graduate work in history. If a candidate has completed some graduate work before entering UC San Diego, appropriate adjustments in coursework may be approved by a general petition to the graduate committee. Nevertheless, all candidates are required to meet language requirements, pass field examinations, and complete and defend a dissertation prospectus.

MA on the Way

An MA may also be awarded to continuing Ph.D. students (who do not already have an MA in History or closely related fields) upon successfully passing the oral qualifying examination. The MA is not automatically awarded; students must apply in advance to receive the degree, but no additional coursework is required. 

Necessary Documents for the Qualifying Exam

• Report of the Qualifying Exam

Necessary Documents for the MA on the Way

• Application for MA (completely signed by all parties by week three) 
• Final Report for MA 

The Dissertation Defense is the culmination of all of your work within the Ph.D. program. Please read all of the information on the Graduate Division's website about "Preparing to Graduate" and make an appointment to speak with the Graduate Coordinator preferably a year out from when you plan to defend.

Scheduling Your Dissertation Defense Exam 

Please submit the History Exam Card at least one month prior to exam to ensure the department is able to prepare all necessary paperwork and room reservations by your exam. 

Scheduling Your Dissertation Defense Exam

Departmental Roles and Responsibilities for the Defense

The Student will:

1. Read the "Preparing to Graduate" page of the Graduate Divison's website.
2. Schedule the Dissertation Defense with their committee. The Dissertation Defense is normally scheduled for four hours. (You are responsible for reserving a room or scheduling the zoom meeting). 
   1. If you are conducting a hybrid defense, you will need to make an appointment with the department's Computer Resource Specialist to familiarize yourself with the equipment in the room. You will also need to ensure a member of the Student Affairs Team will be onsite to assist you (if need be) on the day of your defense.
3. Notify the Graduate Coordinator of the date and time of the defense and please include the following information: 
   1. your name as you would like it to appear on your degree
   2. the title of your dissertation as you would like it to appear on all university records (including the announcement of your defense and the Placement page of the website)
4. Follow up with your committee, the Graduate Division, and the Graduate Advisor about any issues surrounding the completion of your degree.
5. Schedule an appointment with the Graduate Division for a preliminary check of your dissertation. The first appointment should be scheduled once you have sent the completed (and formatted) draft of your dissertation to your committee and scheduled your defense.

The Faculty Advisor will:

1. Ensure the policy (here, here, and here) appropriate participation of all members of the committee at the Dissertation Defense. It is also helpful to remind all committee members to sign the forms by checking their inboxes for the DocuSign request to sign the forms. These sometimes end up in a person's spam folder. UC San Diego faculty can also log into their DocuSign account and find the form under the "Action Required" tab.

The Graduate Coordinator will:

1. Fill out the Final Report of the Final Examination and Filing of the Dissertation for the Doctoral Degree form via DocuSign and route the form on the morning of the defense for signature to all committee members, the department chair, the student, and the Graduate Division.
2. Follow-up with committee members re: signatures on the final report form
3. Send out the announcement of the defense to department faculty and graduate students.

Additional Information and Tasks

Preliminary Dissertation Appointments with the Graduate Division: Students should schedule their preliminary and final appointments with Graduate Division Academic Affairs Advisers by utilizing the online calendaring system they have in place: https://gradforms.ucsd.edu/calendar/index.php

Committee Management: If you need to make any changes to your doctoral committee please follow the instructions above in the "Committee Management" drawer. 

Embargo Your Dissertation: Talk to your faculty advisor about embargo your dissertation. You may want to embargo your dissertation if you are planning to turn it into a book. The embargo will delay the university's publication of your dissertation and prevent other academics from using your research.

Embargo Form: https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/academics/DissertThesisReleaseTemplate.pdf

Documentation of Completion: Once your committee and department chair sign off on the Final Report via DocuSign (approving your defense and dissertation) you will receive a copy of the form. This signature page is sometimes adequate documentation of the completion of your Ph.D. The rest of the final signatures from the Graduate Division and the Registrar’s Office are not completed until the end of the quarter.

Also, once the Graduate Divison has all the signatures, your dissertation is approved, and all co-author letters are submitted (if required), they also provide a letter from the Dean for temporary confirmation of completion. You should check to find out what is acceptable for proof of completion from the requesting entity. This timeline is also contingent on whether your committee requests any revisions at the defense and how long those revisions delay the submission of your final dissertation after the defense.

Necessary Documents for the Dissertation Defense

• Final Report of the Final Examination and Filing of the Dissertation for the Doctoral Degree (routed for signature by the Graduate Coordinator)

Paying Associated Fees: For students who will need to pay fees (advancement to candidacy, thesis submission fee, filing fee, re-admit fee), they will be charged the appropriate fees on their student financial TritonLink account once the form is received by the Graduate Division. There is no need for students to go to the cashier’s office. Unlike tuition and fees, there is no system set up that will allow the department to pay these fees on the student's behalf with department funds. 

Email and Mailing List: Please read over this information for managing your ucsd.edu email account. Also, please let the Graduate Coordinator if you would like to be added to the graduate Program Alumni Mailing which is used to contact you about departmental alumni events, and to forward announcements about job openings and funding opportunities.

Returning to Defend

Students In-Candidacy who do not defend within their Support Time Limit and withdraw or are administratively withdrawn from the program may return and register for one day to defend their dissertation. Below is a chart of what fees are required, based on when the student was last enrolled. The three fees total around $300 (as of 1/2022).

Aside from the fees, all other administrative steps are the same. Students returning to defend should follow the steps noted above under the Departmental Roles and Responsibilities for the Defense, section. Depending on how long ago the student left the program, it may be necessary to reconstitute their Dissertation Committee. The student should contact their Dissertation Committee Chair and the Graduate Coordinator to assist with this process.

Fees for Dissertation Defense

The preferred modality for conducting graduate examinations (doctoral qualifying examination and final dissertation/thesis defense) is to have the student and all committee members physically present. It is expected that there will be synchronous participation by all committee members in the scheduled exam and that at least half of the committee, including the Chair (or one co-chair), will participate in person. However, the department recognizes that a remote or hybrid graduate examination may be in the best interest of the student. There must be sufficient expertise among present members to examine the student. If a committee member must be absent for the scheduled exam, it is permissible for one absent committee member to examine the candidate on a separate date. Requests for exceptions to this policy may be submitted by the student and will be reviewed by the Director of Graduate Studies and Department Chair.

Grades

The department expects all graduate students to do "A" level work. Grades below "B-" are considered evidence of unsatisfactory progress; a "C+" or any lower letter grade is recorded on the transcript, but is regarded as the equivalent of a failure. Required field courses must be taken for a letter grade. Students are strongly encouraged to take their entire first-year program for letter grades. These grades assist the department in evaluating the student's academic progress and in determining future financial support. Post-first-year students may take elective courses for satisfactory/unsatisfactory evaluation.

Incompletes
Grades of "I" (Incomplete) must be changed to a letter grade by week 10 of the quarter following the quarter in which the course was taken. The grade will be recorded as a failure if the work has not been completed by then. Faculty do not have the authority to grant extensions of incompletes. A request for an extension of an incomplete must be made to the Graduate Division via the Graduate Program Coordinator in week 8 or 9 and these types of requests should only be made under exceptional circumstances.

Repeating Courses
Once an "F" or "U" has been assigned and uncontested for a year, the grade is permanent. Students may repeat courses where they have received an "F" or "U" to prevent them from being academically disqualified from the program, however, the grade will remain on their transcript. To repeat a course, please register for the course you would like to repeat, and send that information to the Department's Graduate Advising Staff so that they can submit the request to repeat the course.

Academic Disqualification

A graduate student is subject to disqualification if the cumulative GPA in upper-division and graduate course work taken as a graduate student is less than 3.0, or if more than a total of eight units of F and/or U grades has been accumulated.

Spring Evaluation

Each spring in the years before the student has advanced to candidacy, faculty members from the field group will meet with each student individually to discuss the student's progress. In addition, the faculty adviser will submit a written evaluation for the student's file. Students are entitled to include a response in their permanent records. Once they are advanced to candidacy, graduate students continue to receive annual written evaluations of their progress from their respective faculty dissertation advisers. These evaluations are to be read and signed by the student, the adviser, at least three of the faculty members on the student's dissertation committee, and the department chair.

There are four time limits listed on your student record, but only three of the time limits affect students:

• Pre-Candidacy Time Limit (PCTL)-The amount of time you may be registered/enrolled in the Ph.D. program before advancing to candidacy.
• Support Time Limit (SUTL)-The amount of time you are eligible to receive funding support (work as a Teaching Assistant or Associate-In, grants, fellowships, etc.) from the university.
• Total Registered Time Limit (TRTL)-The amount of time you may be registered/enrolled in the graduate program.

The duration of the Ph.D. program is five to eight years. University and departmental regulations stipulate that the maximum tenure of graduate study at UCSD or Total Registered Time Limit (TRTL) is eight years; while seven years is the limit for receiving any type of university financial support or a student's Support Time Limit (SUTL). For the Department of History, the "normative" time to degree is 7 years. Students are expected to pass their qualifying exam and advance to candidacy in year three, but no later than year four which is the university's Pre-candidacy time limit (PCTL). Students are also limited to 18 quarters of appointments as either Teaching Assistants or Associate-ins (summer appointments don't count). Please read about how your Support Time Limit and 18-quarter employment limit affect your financial support and track your employment quarters: https://history.ucsd.edu/graduate/funding.html#How-do-the-Support-Time-Limit-a

To learn more about time limits please visit the Graduate Division website.

Time Limits: https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/progress-to-degree/time-to-doctorate-policy.html

You can check your time limit by logging into the Graduate Student Portal.

Graduate Student Portal: https://gradforms.ucsd.edu/portal/student/

Teaching Assistantships

In addition to providing funding opportunities, Teaching Assistantships are an integral part of the graduate program at UCSD, providing training and experience in undergraduate teaching. All students are encouraged to spend at least one year as a Teaching Assistant.

The training of teaching assistants is the responsibility of the program in which the teaching is done. For teaching assistants employed within the History Department, an orientation seminar will be offered at the beginning of the fall quarter. The seminar will be organized by the faculty teaching coordinator, in collaboration with a senior TA, both of whom serve as advisers for first-time Teaching Assistants throughout the year. In addition, departmental teaching assistants attend one four-hour training session given by the Center for Teaching Development prior to the beginning of instruction in the Fall Quarter.

For teaching assistants employed by the college programs or in the Linguistics Department, training sessions are organized by these programs to orient students in specific course content and methodologies. These seminars are often scheduled during the week prior to the beginning of instruction in the Fall Quarter. Training continues throughout the academic year in weekly staff meetings.

Teaching assistants both inside and outside the department are evaluated by the course instructor. The instructor visits a teaching assistant's section at least once each quarter and reviews a representative sample of papers and exams for fairness and consistency of grading. The instructor prepares a written evaluation of the teaching assistant at the end of the quarter, and the teaching assistant acknowledges the instructor's comments by signing the evaluation. The TA also has the opportunity to include a written response in their file.

Associate-In

There are some opportunities for advanced graduate students in the final year of their program to serve as the primary instructor ("Assoc-In") for an upper-division course in the history department. First, a graduate student may be asked to teach an existing course to replace a faculty member on leave. Second, a graduate student may apply to teach a course of their own design during one of the summer sessions.

Students who enroll in fewer than twelve graduate or upper-division units per quarter are considered part-time students and are not eligible for support funding (eg. stipends, tuition and fee remission, tuition and fee scholarships, Academic Student Employment, etc.).

Approval for individual students to enroll on a part-time basis may be given for reasons of employment, family responsibilities, or health. Individuals who are interested in part-time study and meet the department's qualifications should speak with the Graduate Coordinator.

Part-time students must satisfy the same admission requirements as full-time students and are eligible, at the discretion of the department, for 25 percent time teaching or research assistantships (but not tuition and fee remission). Students who are approved by the Dean of Graduate Studies for enrollment in a program of half-time study or less (a maximum of six units) may be eligible for a reduction of fees. All other students pay the same fees as full-time students.