Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Professorships for history Ph.D.s on the rise nationally
By Nathalie Pierrepont
Brown Daily Herald (Brown U.)
02/10/2006

(U-WIRE) PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Though a Jan. 27 survey released by the Chronicle of Higher Education found that academic job prospects have improved for doctoral recipients in history nationwide, competition for the University's doctoral recipients has remained fairly constant in the past 15 to 20 years, according to Professor of History Jim McClain, who chairs the department.

The "increase in job prospects has been less noticeable to us because we've been competitive all along," McClain said. "If (doctoral recipients) want a job in academia, most of the time they have been able to find one."

Recent graduates of the University's doctoral program now work as professors at a wide range of schools, including Princeton University, the University of Chicago, Yale University and several major state schools. However, McClain conceded that acquiring a job is easier in some historic fields than others, modern American history being the most competitive.

Doctoral recipients, dissertation in hand, often compete with published candidates who already have teaching experience. When the University's Department of History was looking for an assistant professor in 20th century history, there were 200 applicants, many of whom had three to four years of teaching experience and had already published books and articles.

The Chronicle cited several factors contributing to the national increase in job opportunities for history graduate students, including more openings created by a spike in retirements among history professors.

At Brown, eight out of 27 history professors have retired in the past five years, McClain said, creating more openings for professorship and assistant professorship positions in the department. This trend has allowed the department to reassess its curriculum, he said.

Recent political events and global trends have led to an increase in specialization among historians, another factor leading to a rise in job opportunities, according to the Chronicle.

Tom Devany GS, a first year Ph.D. candidate in medieval history, said the number of students focusing in international studies and global issues has "exploded in the past few years."

The war in Iraq and the increased economic importance of China and India has attracted more students to Middle East and South Asian studies, McClain said. The movement of students beyond more traditional fields such as modern American and modern European history has allowed history departments to expand their specialized offerings, thus creating new job opportunities.

The Chronicle suggests that another reason for the increase in available academic jobs might be decreased competition for such positions as history doctoral recipients increasingly look to other professions.

Devany said he has also witnessed this trend. Although most students working towards a Ph.D. expect to attain a professorship, many are also drawn towards public history positions or consulting jobs as alternatives, he said. There is a considerable number of jobs within the public history field, including working in a museum, for a historical society, in history broadcasting or anything involving the marketing of history for public consumption, he said.

Though history has traditionally been a popular concentration among undergraduates, many students do not necessarily intend to pursue graduate work in the field. Chris Bremner '06, an aspiring actor and playwright and a modern European history concentrator, said he has benefited from the general knowledge and writing skills he has learned even though he may not use his history degree for life after college.

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