History (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here.  

Program Overview

The Department of History has earned an outstanding reputation for both the quality of its teaching and the high standards of its scholarship. The LSU Libraries contain more than three million volumes, more than five million microforms, and a manuscript collection of more than 12 million items. LSU’s Special Collections, housed in Hill Memorial Library, are especially rich in materials relating to the Lower Mississippi Valley, the South, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. The Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge and several repositories in nearby New Orleans also house important research documents close at hand.

The department is nationally and internationally recognized as a center for the study of the South and the Civil War. It also has graduate students and faculty working in a host of other areas of American history, including the cultural history of the 20th century. It has particular strengths in British history, the Middle Ages and Renaissance studies, and modern European history. In addition, it has faculty members who publish in and teach the history of the ancient world, Latin America, Africa, as well as South and East Asia.

Administration

Admission

Students applying for entrance to the Graduate School must submit an application for admission. This must be submitted on-line (gradapply.lsu.edu). Students must submit their scores on the GRE; the minimum combined score required for application is 300. In addition, official transcripts of all previous undergraduate and graduate work, a statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation and a writing sample of approximately 10-20 pages should be submitted online as supporting materials. Those applying for the Ph.D. program should include a portion of their Master’s thesis as a writing sample. For admission or advancement to the Ph.D. program, an M.A. in History is required. Decisions are made only after receipt of all credentials. The entire application, including all supporting materials, must be submitted via the LSU Graduate School’s online application website (gradapply.lsu.edu). Hard copies of official transcripts should be submitted directly to the LSU Office of Graduate Admissions.

To be considered for fellowships and assistantships for the fall semester, completed applications must be submitted by JANUARY 15, although completed applications submitted after that date but before APRIL 1 may also be considered. The department does not accept applications for spring admission.

Financial Assistance

All completed applications for admission to the M.A. and Ph.D. programs received by January 15 will be considered for teaching assistantships currently valued at approximately $15,000 for the nine-month academic year, renewable for up to four years.  Students with assistantships also are exempt from tuition payments, although they must still pay required university fees. A recent schedule of university fees can be found on the Budget and Planning Fee Schedule website.

Graduate Faculty

(check current faculty listings by department here)

Please click on individual faculty web pages for publications and contact information.

Asiya Alam • South Asia 
Stephen Andes • Mexico, modern Latin America  
Andrew Burstein  • American Revolution, U.S. early national  
Gibril R. Cole  • Africa 
Maribel Dietz  • Medieval, Late Antiquity  
Jonathan H. Earle  • Early Republic, slavery, antebellum U.S.  
Gaines M. Foster  • New South, U.S. religion and cultural  
Zevi Gutfreund  • 20th century U.S., immigration, education  
Nancy G. Isenberg  • U.S. early national, law, gender  
Catherine O. Jacquet  • 20th century U.S., gender, sexuality 
Sherri Franks Johnson  • Medieval, women 
Brendan Jeffrey Karch  • Central and Eastern Europe  
Christine J. Kooi  • Renaissance, Reformation, early modern Netherlands  
Alecia P. Long  • Louisiana, U.S. gender, sexuality  
Suzanne L. Marchand  • Germany/Austria, European intellectual  
Michael Pasquier  • U.S. religion, Louisiana  
Kodi Roberts  • U.S., African-American  
Aaron C. Sheehan-Dean • Civil War, U.S. South  
Charles J. Shindo  • 20th century U.S., cultural, Asian American 
Victor Stater  • Tudor-Stuart England, early modern Europe  
Leslie Tuttle • Early modern France, France, gender, cultural  
Meredith Veldman • Modern Britain, 20th century Europe  
Margherita Zanasi • Modern China, nationalism, identity, economic thought 

Programs

• History, Ph.D.

• History, M.A.

• Joint Degree: M.A./M.L.I.S.