History (MS)

The History MS provides an applied degree for advanced study and professional development that prepares individuals for careers in teaching, law, journalism, public service, museums, and business. We provide a curriculum to serve students whose family, job, or financial considerations limit their ability to relocate or commute. Students develop essential career skills, such as the ability to analyze conflicting information and viewpoints, write clearly and communicate ideas, find reliable evidence for judgments about human actions and motives, and place particular events in a broader context. 

Before being accepted into the History Graduate Program, all applicants must apply to the College of Graduate Studies.

All students applying to a Graduate Program in History should meet the following minimum requirements:

  1. GPA:  All applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for all undergraduate work, including at least 16 undergraduate semester credits in History. 6 of the credits must be in United States history, and 6 in European history.
  2. English Proficiency:  TOEFL score of 600 (paper) or 247 (computer)

Students who do not meet the minimum requirements are encouraged to contact the Graduate Coordinator. 

Students who wish to pursue the MA or MS in History will be prompted to submit the following materials in their application:

  1. Statement of Purpose:  2-3 typed pages that clearly outline the applicant's interest and purpose for seeking a master's degree in history.  
  2. Writing Sample:  Submit a substantial paper 10-30 pages long, preferably submitted for an upper-division History class.  
  3. Two letters of reference that clearly address the applicant's academic abilities and prospects for success in the Minnesota State, Mankato History program.

Graduate Coordinator
Department of History
110 Armstrong Hall
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001

To apply online, go to Graduate Studies Applications page.

Program Requirements

Common Core

An orientation to the graduate study and the learning outcomes of the History Graduate Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato. The course encourages students to analyze what it means to be a professional historian, and to learn how historians apply their skills in various professional settings.

Prerequisites: none

Students will apply historical skills and knowledge through a practical work experience at a non-profit organization, governmental agency, for-profit business, or other institution. P/N only.

Prerequisites: none

Restricted Electives

Reading Seminars - Choose 6 Credit(s). Courses can be repeated as topics change.

Intensive reading on a specialized historical topic. May be repeated once under a different instructor and sub-title.

Prerequisites: none

Intensive reading on a specialized historical topic. May be repeated once under a different instructor and sub-title.

Prerequisites: none

Intensive reading on a specialized historical topic. May be repeated once under a different instructor and sub-title.

Prerequisites: none

Research Seminars - Choose 6 Credit(s). Courses can be repeated as topics change.

May be repeated once under a different instructor and sub-title.

Prerequisites: none

Introduce students to research methodologies and techniques in world history, including Asia, Africa, and Latin America. May be repeated once under a different instructor and sub-title.

Prerequisites: none

May be repeated once under a different instructor and sub-title.

Prerequisites: none

Unrestricted Electives

Department of History Electives - Choose 16 Credit(s). May substitute up to six non-History credits if approved by advisor and department graduate coordinator.

The history of Greece and Rome stressing political, social, and economic institutions and cultural and intellectual achievements.

Prerequisites: none

A history of western monotheistic religions and their interactions with the secular world and each other from the beginnings of Judaism to the Crusades.

Prerequisites: none

A history of the Middle Ages stressing political, social, and economic interactions and cultural achievements.

Prerequisites: none

European history from the later Middle Ages to the end of the Thirty Years' War (c.1300-1648). Students will examine the intellectual, religious, and cultural developments in Western-Europe, with special attention given to social life and popular culture.

Prerequisites: none

The history of Europe from the Treaty of Westphalia to the eve of the French Revolution (1648-1789). Course emphasizes absolutism and constitutionalism, the construction of European empires, the scientific revolution and Enlightenment, and social and economic changes.

Prerequisites: none

A history of women from Classical Greece and Rome to the modern era. An analysis of the changing concepts of gender relations within a study of women as individuals and as members of socio-economic, ethnic, kin, and religious groups.

Prerequisites: none

England from ancient times to the death of Elizabeth I.

Prerequisites: none

Political, social, and economic development of England and Great Britain since the death of Elizabeth I.

Prerequisites: none

Review of French history from the Revolution of 1789 to the present, including such topics as origins and course of the Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII to Third Republic, World War I, World War II and France since 1945.

Prerequisites: none

Political, economic, social, cultural, and emigration-immigration history of the Scandinavian countries, including major themes in the mass migration and history of Scandinavians in America. Emphasis on the period, 1500-present.

Prerequisites: none

This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of European history as announced by the department.

Prerequisites: none

This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of World History as announced by the department.

Prerequisites: none

A comparative history of the Chinese and Japanese nations from the 19th century to 1945.

Prerequisites: none

A comparative history of the rise of the Chinese and Japanese nations from 1945 to the present.

Prerequisites: none

History of relations of major East-Asian countries with the United States from the late 18th century to the present.

Prerequisites: none

Investigation of historical developments across the African continent from pre-history through the eighteenth century. Topics will include ancient empires of West Africa, the Swahili coast, the spread of Islam, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the formation of South Africa's multi-racial society.

Prerequisites: none

Investigation of historical developments in Sub-Saharan Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics will include trade with Europe and America, European colonization and African resistance, life in colonial Africa, independence movements, South Africa's apartheid state and the Rwanda genocide.

Prerequisites: none

This course traces the history of Latin America from the late colonial period through the present as the various countries in the region attempted to transcend their colonial past and confront the pressures of modernization and globalization.

Prerequisites: none

How do we define the Middle East? In our popular culture and media sources that we are exposed to daily, the Middle East is one of the more discussed and yet, one of the most misunderstood topics. Our goal is to both to unlearn misconceptions and to create an accurate representation of the region. Our class will start with an introduction to the region and its history and the misconceptions that are attached to it. It will then proceed from the late 18th century to the revolutionary events of recent years dubbed the Arab Spring and their aftermaths.

Prerequisites: none

This course will examine Minnesota's social, political, and economic development from the earliest human habitation to the present.

Prerequisites: none

This course will examine America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from the earliest settlement of the continent by indigenous peoples to 1763, when provincial Americans began to demand more than token equality in the British Empire.

Prerequisites: none

This course will examine the social, economic, ideological, political, diplomatic, and military experiences of the United States between 1763 and 1820, in order to understand the creation of the American political nation and the culture which developed within it.

Prerequisites: none

This course will discuss the social, economic, and political issues from the rise of Jackson through the beginning of the Civil War. Major issues to be covered include: Jacksonian Democracy, Industrialization, Reform, Westward Expansion, Slavery, and the 1850s.

Prerequisites: none

Examines issues of slavery and conflict between the North and the South leading up to, during, and after the Civil War, and the rise of a socially and culturally diverse manufacturing society by the 1880s.

Prerequisites: none

A history of foreign and domestic themes during the progressive Era; the 1920's, the Great Depression, and the periods of the two world wars. Includes examination of reform and radical movements on the left and right.

Prerequisites: none

Social, political, and foreign affairs since World War II.

Prerequisites: none

An examination of the major factors influencing U.S. diplomacy since 1900. Students will examine how influential policymakers defined their diplomatic goals, and how both domestic and external factors have contributed to America's reaction to wars and revolutions around the world.

Prerequisites: none

This course examines U.S. constitutional history and historiography from its foundations to the current day. Graduate students will learn about evolving constitutional interpretations throughout this period and how historians have viewed this history. Students will read and discuss legal materials, journal and law review articles, and monographs. They will be assessed on analyzing and synthesizing primary and secondary sources to ask and answer historical questions.

Prerequisites: none

Occupation of the area between the Mississippi and the Pacific from Spanish exploration to the late 19th century.

Prerequisites: none

This course looks at the social, political, and economic developments that transformed the 20th Century American West.

Prerequisites: none

This course will discuss slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic World (Africa, Latin America, and the United States). Students will discover how slavery and emancipation differed in different regions and over time.

Prerequisites: none

This course surveys African American history from slavery to the twenty-first century. We will explore the history of enslavement, black resistance, African American culture, freedom, migration patterns, and black political thought and participation as well as how historians have interpreted and re-interpreted this history. Students will ask their own questions about this history and conduct research to answer those questions.

Prerequisites: none

This course will examine the Vietnam War. Students will discover how and why the U.S. became involved in Vietnam, examine the specific problems faced by American diplomats and military officials, and how the war affected American society.

Prerequisites: none

This course will examine the U.S. civil rights movement in the 20th century. Students will study the African American freedom movement and other civil rights campaigns to understand the basis of both oppression and civil rights in the U.S. and will apply this historical context to contemporary civil rights struggles. Graduate students will also synthesize the academic literature and make use of this history in a professional context.

Prerequisites: none

A history of the intersection of culture and society in America.

Prerequisites: none

An examination of the history of labor and the emergence of social welfare within the context of the modernization of western society and the diversity of the United States.

Prerequisites: none

A historical study of the immigration and ethnic experience in America. It includes an examination of political, social, economic and legal changes that resulted in population movements to the U.S. Attention is given to anti-immigrant movements.

Prerequisites: none

This course will examine the interaction between humans and the American environment from pre-Columbus to the present.

Prerequisites: none

This course is designed to provide a survey and analysis of the historical experiences of women in the United States from earliest settlement by indigenous peoples to the present in order to aid students in understanding the contemporary situation of women in American society.

Prerequisites: none

Discussion of disasters in US history from colonial times to the present. Contemporary descriptions of the events will be reviewed as will the changing response of both the public and the government to these events.

Prerequisites: none

Specific titles to be announced in departmental course descriptions. P/N only.

Prerequisites: none

Practical work experience in an historical agency.

Prerequisites: none

Capstone Course