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Program Description: The Ph.D.
Handbook
The Program
In Fall 1998, the University of Texas at Arlington
implemented a Ph.D. program in Transatlantic History. The Ph.D. Program in
Transatlantic History is unique within the large number of doctoral programs at
American universities since it focuses on the interactions of people and regions
across the
Atlantic
from the fifteenth century to the present time. Unlike traditional programs
that are often defined by political boundaries, this program explores the
interactions and cross-cultural developments between Europe, Africa, and the
Americas
over the last six centuries. It has as its goal the solid grounding of graduate
students in the history of the contact and interaction between peoples and
regions of Europe and Africa with North and
South America
. To study the interrelations between Europe, Africa, and the
Americas
, students enroll in a sequenced curriculum that offers coursework in discovery,
exploration, and the history of cartography, migrations, colonization,
frontiers, transnational social movements and economic interactions. The dissertation must be an original,
substantial, and significant contribution to this scholarly field of
transatlantic history.
Since the field of transatlantic history is still evolving and resists by its
very nature clear categorization and delineation of subfields along language and
national lines, this program does not offer traditional subfields. Students will
define their areas of study and dissertation topic in consultation with the
Ph.D. Advisor and the other members of the graduate faculty. The dissertation
topic chosen by the student should have a correlation with the language skills
of that student and his/her interests.
The University
UT-Arlington (UTA), with 25,000 students, including over 5,000 at the graduate level, is one of the largest public universities in Texas. Centrally located in the growing Dallas-Fort Worth area, UTA is accessible and affordable to a diverse body of students, both part-time and full-time.
UTA has grown with the city of Arlington (2005 pop., 362,000). Founded in 1895 as tiny Arlington College, serving a farming community of several hundred people, the school has undergone several changes in name and mission. In 1959 it became a 4-year college, and in 1965 was transferred from the Texas A & M to the University of Texas System. In 1967, the school was renamed the University of Texas at Arlington. The past quarter-century has witnessed explosive growth, especially in graduate programs. In 1966, six departments began advanced degree programs; in the 1990's, there are available to students about 70 different graduate programs, masters and doctoral.
Institutional Resources
Ph.D. students in the Transatlantic History program will have direct access to the rich materials found in the UT-Arlington Library's
Special Collections. Central to
research in this program is The Virginia Garrett Cartographic History Library, which contains 7,500 maps and 1,400 atlases and geographies. Special Collections has over 6,500 linear feet of manuscript archives. Recently, the UT Regents Special Collections Enhancement Fund designated $700,000 to Special Collections, an amount to be matched by another $700,000 in gifts from outside sources, for a total grant of $1.4 million.
A Center for the History of Cartography was created in 1991, whose Director has published on historical geography. A faculty member holding an Endowed Chair in the History of Cartography also provides strong support for the Ph.D. program in Transatlantic History. For
forty-two years, the Department of History has sponsored the annual Walter Prescott
Webb Lectures, many of whose published volumes have been on Transatlantic themes. In addition, in 1998, the university inaugurated the Virginia Garrett Lectures on the History of Cartography, which will be an annual series of symposia topics and resulting publications on the study of mapping.
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