Through Duquesne's Department of History, you can choose from two graduate programs—an M.A. in history and an M.A. public history—to provide you with both a distinct path and a holistic approach to graduate education.

Both degree paths offer a guaranteed financial aid award of 25% or more; conference and research funding; afternoon and evening classes; local, national and international internships; and year-round professional networking events. Both graduate history programs are two-year, 30-credit master's programs, and within them you can explore any of three major areas of study—American, European and global/international. You'll do so through three flexible tracks of study: thesis, nonthesis with a minor and nonthesis without a minor. 

Our public history program gives you skills you need to deal with different audiences, various materials and multiple contexts, making it a useful field for career development in a number of areas.

Choose Your Path

Student Funding

Duquesne University offers a 25% tuition award for select graduate degrees, including History.  Note: students receiving a tuition scholarship from the Department of History are not eligible to receive the 25% University award.
The Department of History gives financial aid to most of its graduate students. This financial aid is merit-based and is available in the form of assistantships as well as tuition scholarships. Both are awarded upon a student's admission to the graduate program and continue as long as he or she remains in good academic standing. Students who do not receive financial aid from the Department of History and who meet eligibility requirements will receive the 25% award as noted above. Also, graduate students are eligible for federal and state loan programs.

Assistantships

Assistantships cover all tuition and fees and include a $4,000 stipend for each fall and spring semesters. The Department of History awards three of these assistantships each fall semester to incoming students. Graduate assistants help professors in the Department with their classroom responsibilities (such as grading and/or proctoring, but not teaching or course prep) and research on a part-time basis of approximately ten hours per week. Provided students awarded assistantships maintain good academic standing, their assistantships are typically renewed each academic year through the duration of their programs.

Tuition Scholarships

Most graduate History students receive departmental tuition scholarships to pay for a portion of their tuition. The amount of tuition scholarships typically ranges from one-third to two-thirds of tuition each academic year. 

We know how expensive a graduate education can be. As a result, the Department of History helps fund students' expenses related to certain academic activities, such as conference registration fees and travel, as well as poster printing for conference sessions. Also, the Dean's Office of the McAnulty Graduate School may fund a student up to $500 for conference expenses each year. In addition to the Dean's funding, the History Department will fund an additional $250 towards conference funding once funding from the Dean's Office has been exhausted.
Through a generous gift to future students here at Duquesne, recently retired faculty members Steven and Agnes Vardy have established The Drs. Steven Bela Vardy and Agnes Huszar Vardy International Research and Study Grant. This grant provides $1,250 to support one graduate History or Public History student in conducting research overseas between July 1 and June 30 of the following year. The Department of History will provide up to an additional $500 to the winner of the Vardy Grant. These monies can be applied to any aspect of overseas research, including but not limited to airfare, local transportation, accommodations, food, and photocopying. The winner will also be required to submit a 500-word report to the Department of History chairperson summarizing the results of his or her research/study trip within four months of their return to the United States.

Explore Our Digital History Lab & Studio!

Digital history is an exciting format of disseminating history to the public and scholars using web-based mediums and platforms. Duquesne’s Digital History Lab & Studio provides you with tools and essential skills training as you work toward your graduate degree in either history or public history.

Our lab has state-of-the-art hardware and cutting-edge software that students and faculty utilize for courses, research projects and community outreach. The lab features five Mac and Dell computer stations, four of which double as oral history transcription stations, while two are designed to handle special projects.

You'll be prepared for anything with next-generation training. Students in Dr. Jennifer Taylor's graduate course Speaking to the Past: Oral History in Methodology & Practice curated the Third Alternative Oral History Project on Scalar. And students in Dr. Stephanie Gray’s undergraduate Practice of Public History course researched the social and environmental history of streetlighting and used the lab’s Prusa 3D printer to reproduce parts of a 1913 Pittsburgh streetlamp. 

Other recent student projects include the South Side Voices: Stories on Carson, the Elsinore Bennu Think Tank Oral History Project and the Black Equity Coalition.

Two students recording a digital interview

Future-Focused Training

Gain essential skills and tools as you work toward your graduate degree in history or public history.

FAQ's

for History's Graduate Programs

The University provides special floors in residence halls for graduate and law students. Many graduate students live off-campus either in nearby apartment houses or in one of Pittsburgh's many interesting neighborhoods. For a large city, housing costs in Pittsburgh are reasonable and there is a wide range of options available for off-campus living. The Office of Commuter Affairs has information regarding off-campus housing.
Yes. Whether you live on- or off-campus, there are meal plan options available to you. Check out the dining website for more information.
The University's Counseling and Wellbeing Center provides support that enables students to live a meaningful life based on a mind/body/spirit approach to wellbeing, an approach that honors the fundamental dignity of the human person by valuing him/her in his/her totality. As a graduate student, you have full access to every resource within the Counseling and Wellbeing Center.
Typically our graduate students can finish their programs in four semesters if they elect to take nine credits (three classes) per semester. The McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts requires that all Master's students complete their degrees within six years of matriculation.
Absolutely. Some of our students have full-time jobs, families, and/or other responsibilities that require them to take only 3 credits (one class) per semester. Keep in mind, however, that part-time students will take longer than four semesters to finish their programs. The McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts requires that all Master's students complete their degrees within six years of matriculation.
Under special circumstances, a student who is a degree candidate may be given a leave of absence for one semester (serious illness, job transfer out of the country, uncertainty about completing the degree and needing a time of discernment, or military duty).

The student writes a letter to the department chair or graduate program director outlining in detail the reasons for requesting a leave. The chair/director will determine the appropriateness of granting the leave, add his/her recommendation to the letter and forward it to the Dean. If the request is approved by the Dean, the Graduate School office will place the student on hiatus. Extension of the leave beyond one semester may be granted, upon review by the Dean. The student must submit a written request to the department chair or program director for the extension.
Yes, some do. Because your graduate coursework will be more demanding than what you experienced as an undergraduate, it will be important for you to find the right balance. Some students who work while in our program only take one or two courses. If you are offered an assistantship in our program and find that you still need outside employment, you are required to fill out and submit to us a Graduate Assistant Outside Employment Approval Form.
The McAnulty Graduate School of Liberal Arts considers six credits (two classes) each semester to be full-time. You may take six credits each semester in our graduate program, but doing so will require more than four semesters to complete the degree.

Contact for more info

Dr. Philipp Stelzel