Master of Arts in History California State University - Northridge, USA

Engage the past through historical research and global perspectives. With a master's degree in history from CSUN, you'll hone your writing and critical thinking skills for your future career.

Why Earn a Master's in History?

By earning a master's in history, you'll receive advanced training in historical research and teaching. You'll learn methods of historical analysis and a variety of historical interpretations. You will also hone your writing while studying a comprehensive view of history.

With your research skills, you can pursue a career in museums and archives. You can also apply to law schools or top-tier Ph.D. programs. Your knowledge will also prepare you to become a teacher at high schools and community colleges.

Why Study History at CSUN?

Breadth and Depth

Our graduate program consists of courses of concentrated study in specific historical fields. They include U.S. history, Latin American history, and ancient history. You'll also take seminars in historical methods and research. Finally, you'll receive professional development for careers in teaching, archival administration and public history.

Excellent Faculty

What makes CSUN's Department of History stand out is our faculty. They have won 18 Distinguished Teaching Awards and 12 Distinguished Publication Awards from CSUN. Because your graduate seminars are small, you will have unparalleled opportunities to work directly with faculty on research projects and more.

Flexible Program

Many of our students are working professionals. That's why at CSUN's History master's program, you'll have the option to pursue your degree as a full-time or part-time student. We offer our seminar classes in the afternoons and evenings to work around your schedule.

What You'll Learn

In CSUN's History master's program, you take 10 classes to increase your knowledge of historical events, research and interpretations. You will choose your classes based on your area of interest. You will end the program with a culminating experience that shows your growth and original research.

You can choose courses from:

• Theory of archival administration
• Historiography
• United States history
• Modern European history
• Latin American history
• California history
• Borderlands history
• American Indian history
• Ancient history
• World history

You may also choose to take two 500- or 600- level classes in related disciplines with the approval of the graduate coordinator.

For your culminating experience, you'll choose from two options:

• For the culminating project, you will use an existing research paper from a previous class and expand it. The final result would resemble a paper that could be submitted as a conference paper or for publication. You will also prepare a 20-minute presentation of your work.
• You may also choose to complete a thesis. To be considered for this option, you will work with a faculty advisor to develop a thesis proposal. If approved, you will form a three-person faculty thesis committee that will oversee and approve your research.

The history department strongly recommends that you learn a foreign language, especially those who are planning to pursue a Ph.D. We encourage you discuss with your advisor the level of competency required.