The History Federation at Rutgers University - Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology offer a joint Graduate History Program, administered by a federated Rutgers-Newark/NJIT History Department. Graduate degrees in history are awarded jointly by Rutgers-Newark and NJIT, and the full resources of both universities are available to all students and faculty.

Rutgers University is the state university of New Jersey, and NJIT is the state's public technological university. Together, the two universities enroll nearly 20,000 students. NJIT and Rutgers-Newark are located in the University Heights section of Newark, along with Essex County College and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Just ten miles from Manhattan, 42 miles from Princeton, and 78 miles from Philadelphia, the adjacent campuses of NJIT and Rutgers-Newark enjoy easy access to a wide range of academic and cultural facilities.

The Graduate History Program

The joint Graduate History Program at Rutgers-Newark and NJIT is the largest and most diverse master's-level history program in the state of New Jersey. The program prepares students for careers in teaching, business, law, government, administration, and other fields related to history. For students who are already working in these fields, it enhances the professional experience and increases the opportunities for advancement. Above all, the program is designed to enrich students' lives by exposing them to some of the major experiences and events, people and cultures, books and ideas that have shaped our modern world over the course of the past two millenia. The aim is to provide a varied and flexible program that combines broad training with focused research opportunities in historical studies.

While the program offers courses in all the major regions of the world and all periods of history, it has particular strengths in modern U.S. history, including the history of race, gender, international relations, and urban history; world history; public history (with internships available at local historical organizations); narrative history and the craft of writing history; world history; and the history of technology, environment, and medicine/health.

Two graduate degree programs are offered:

    the Master of Arts (M.A.) and
    the Master of Arts for Teachers (M.A.T.)

Both degrees require 30 credits of approved course work, and the same standards of class assessment are applied to students in both programs.

View Learning Goals

The M.A. program, intended for generalists and pre-Ph.D. candidates, requires concentration in one of the three major fields. Students may write either a 6-credit master's thesis or the 3-credit master's essay.

The M.A.T. is intended for secondary school teachers, and permits a greater flexibility in course selection.  Students are not permitted to write a thesis, but they must write a 3-credit master's essay.

The Federated Department of History, Rutgers-Newark/NJIT does not offer a Ph.D. in history. Students who wish to pursue the Ph.D. in History at Rutgers should contact the History Department, Rutgers University - New Brunswick.

A Dedicated, Scholarly Faculty

The program boasts a distinguished faculty who are nationally or internationally known in their fields. In recent years, faculty have received fellowships from the most prestigious granting organizations in academia, such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the National Science Foundation. They have published books with Cambridge University Press, Princeton University Press, University of North Carolina Press, and other major scholarly and trade presses, and articles in leading historical journals such as Journal of American History, William and Mary Quarterly, Journal of Modern History, Journal of Contemporary History, and Diplomatic History. They serve on the editorial boards and as officers in major professional publications and organizations. Several are Fellows of the Royal Historical Society in London.

The faculty is also committed to teaching and concerned about the needs and interests of individual students. Courses are offered in a seminar format that is friendly and personal. Both full-time and part-time students are welcome, and the courses are given in the early evening in order to accommodate employed students comfortably. Student participation is stressed.