In 1958, the American Historical Association began a study to determine
the status and condition of history education in U.S. colleges and
universities. Published in 1962 and addressing such issues as the supply
and demand for teachers, student recruitment, and training for advanced
degrees, that report set a lasting benchmark against which to judge the
study of history thereafter. Now, more than forty years later, the AHA
has commissioned a new report. The Education of Historians for the
Twenty-first Century documents this important new study's remarkable
conclusions.
Both the American academy and the study of history have been
dramatically transformed since the original study, but doctoral programs
in history have barely changed. This report from the AHA explains why
and offers concrete, practical recommendations for improving the state
of graduate education. The Education of Historians for the Twenty-first
Century stands as the first investigation of graduate training for
historians in more than four decades and the best available study of
doctoral education in any major academic discipline.
Prepared for the AHA by the Committee on Graduate Education, the report
represents the combined efforts of a cross-section of the entire
historical profession. It draws upon a detailed review of the existing
studies and data on graduate education and builds upon this foundation
with an exhaustive survey of history doctoral programs. This included
actual visits to history departments across the country and
consultations with scores of individual historians, graduate students,
deans, academic and non-academic employers of historians, as well as
other stakeholders in graduate education.
As the ethnic and gender composition of both graduate students and
faculty has changed, methodologies have been refined and the domains of
historical inquiry expanded. By addressing these revolutionary
intellectual and demographic changes in the historical profession, The
Education of Historians for the Twenty-first Century breaks important
new ground. Combining a detailed historical snapshot of the profession
with a rigorous analysis of these intellectual changes, this volume is
ideally positioned as the definitive guide to strategic planning for
history departments. It includes practical recommendations for handling
institutional challenges as well as advice for everyone involved in the
advanced training of historians, from department chairs to their
students, and from university administrators to the AHA itself.
