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Ph.D. in History of Science  

Master of arts (a.m.) in history of science.

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• PhD Program in History and Middle Eastern Studies

The joint program in History and Middle Eastern Studies is designed for students interested in enriching their program of study for the PhD in History with firsthand knowledge about the Middle East based on literacy in its languages and an understanding of its history. As a student in an interdisciplinary program you are a full member of the Department of History cohort, but also have an intellectual home at CMES and access to CMES faculty, facilities, and resources.

Students in the joint PhD Program in History and Middle Eastern Studies fulfill all the  requirements for the PhD in History  in addition to the language and area studies requirements established by the Committee on Middle Eastern Studies.

Language Requirements

Students are expected to develop Middle Eastern language skills (in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, or Turkish) that will enable them to work at the highest levels of scholarship and teaching in their chosen field. Depending upon the student’s specialization, another Middle Eastern language may be substituted with the approval of the Committee on Joint PhD Programs. Native speakers of these languages will be required to master a second Middle Eastern language. Proficiency in the Middle Eastern language is tested by a language professor in the fourth field of the general examination, a single written examination of two parts. Students must also pass the History Department’s language exam in French, German, Russian, or Italian before taking general examinations.

Program of Study in History and MES

Coursework in the first two years includes a minimum of sixteen half-courses. History doctoral students usually take four courses each semester of their first two years in the program. In the first semester of their first year, students must complete the following courses: an introductory seminar on methodology, “History 3910—The Writing of History: Approaches and Practices,” and at least two half-courses of seminar work for a letter grade—one in Middle Eastern history and one in Western history. All coursework must be completed before one takes the General Examinations.  

A list of current Middle East–related courses is available on this site at the beginning of each semester; the History Department courses are available at my.harvard.edu .

History PhD candidates take departmental oral examinations usually in the spring of their second year of study. Candidates must pass these examinations before they may continue their PhD work. More details are available on the History Department’s website in the  Graduate Program Requirements section.

Dissertation

In the third year doctoral students identify a three-member dissertation committee and topic. Students then prepare a dissertation prospectus and present it at the Department’s annual student prospectus conference, which is held during the third week in January. Satisfactory progress of PhD candidates in the writing stage is determined on the basis of the schedule a student arranges with his or her advisor.

Timeline for Student Progress and Degree Completion

• Coursework: One to three years.
• Examinations: General exams must be passed by the end of the second year, and no later than the third year of study.
• Dissertation Prospectus: Must be approved by the end of the third year.
• Dissertation Defense and Approval: The candidate’s dissertation committee decides when the dissertation is ready for defense. The doctorate is awarded when the candidate passes a defense of the dissertation.
• Graduation: The program is ideally completed in six years.

For more details on these guidelines, see the Middle Eastern Studies section of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS) Policies site and the Department of History's guidelines for PhD students . Admissions information can be found in the Applying to CMES section of this site and on the  Harvard Griffin GSAS website .

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• PhD in History and East Asian Languages

In addition to the PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations, the department also administers the PhD in History and East Asian Languages (HEAL).  This degree program is designed to accommodate the particular needs of students who desire a more language-intensive program of study of East Asian history. 

The HEAL program has long been one of the premier doctoral training programs in East Asian history in the United States.  Its origins go back to 1941, when, upon the initiative of  John King Fairbank , a “Standing Committee of the Faculty on the Joint Degree of Ph.D. in History and Far Eastern Languages” was established (the name was changed to “History and East Asian Languages” in 1972).  The justification offered then was that the student of East Asian history must know well the main languages for scholarship in East Asia and that therefore a PhD in the field required special consideration for the extra time needed for preparation, research, and writing.  In the words of John Fairbank and  Benjamin Schwartz , writing in 1980:

The success of this program, which has filled many of the major East Asian history posts in the country, has lain in its degree requirements: that the candidate must make a major investment in either Chinese or Japanese and get a basic start in the other of the two languages, and must present on his General Examination only three instead of the usual four fields of history.  Since the basic requirement in this field is language competence and since its program makes allowance for this, it has become the major channel for East Asian historians at Harvard.  Chinese and Japanese are of course both necessary for either Chinese or Japanese history.

This rationale, we believe, remains valid today.

More than 200 HEAL PhDs have been awarded since the degree’s inception in 1941. The list of prominent scholars who have earned the HEAL degree includes members of the present Harvard faculty as well as leading figures in the East Asian field at institutions across the country and around the globe. 

As of 2019, there are 29 students registered in the HEAL PhD program, of whom approximately two-thirds are in residence.  The remaining one-third are away from campus on dissertation-related research and writing.

The work of students in the HEAL program is supervised jointly by the Standing Committee on the PhD in History and East Asian Languages and the Faculty of the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.  The Standing Committee meets once or twice a year to confer on admissions recommendations for the PhD and to deal with basic questions of policy.  The chair of the committee is Professor  Michael Puett , (EALC).  Other members (in alphabetical order) are:

Peter Bol , EALC Carter Eckert , EALC Mark Elliott , EALC and History Arunabh Ghosh,  History Andrew Gordon , History and EALC David Howell , EALC Sun Joo Kim , EALC William Kirby , History Shigehisa Kuriyama , EALC Ian Miller , History Victor Seow , History of Science Michael Szonyi , EALC and History Students admitted to the HEAL degree program must ordinarily have one of the above faculty members as their primary advisor. 

Admission to HEAL

The HEAL program welcomes applications from all qualified students, regardless of age, gender, or national origin.  Admission to the HEAL PhD is highly competitive, and offers can be made only to a small number of the most highly qualified applicants.  Promising applicants who for whatever reason are deemed not ready to begin PhD work may sometimes be recommended for admission to the  Regional Studies – East Asia  AM program.

Students wishing to apply for admission to the HEAL degree program apply through the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations.  Students will choose HEAL as an area of study in the application. 

HEAL, EALC, or History?

As might be expected, there is considerable overlap between the research interests of HEAL, EALC, and History students and faculty, and no hard-and-fast rules apply that might limit students in any of these programs in terms of region, period, or methodology.  Note that although HEAL students are formally administered via EALC, it is not unheard of for advisors of some HEAL students to be faculty whose main appointment is in History.  Likewise, many students concentrating on East Asia in the  History Department work closely with EALC faculty.  There are no high walls between these communities, which meet and mix often in language classes, seminars, lectures, conferences, receptions, etc.

That said, the majority of young scholars training in East Asian history at Harvard earn their degrees in the HEAL program, especially if their area of research interest lies in political, institutional, social, and cultural history between the twelfth and early twentieth centuries.  This area may well be defined transnationally.  Students with research interests that are exclusively “ancient” (e.g., pre-1000 CE) or primarily in the history of thought, religion, and philosophy will want to consider carefully whether their needs would not be better met by the PhD program in East Asian Languages and Civilizations.  Similarly, those whose research interests are exclusively “modern” (e.g., post-WWII) will want to think carefully about the PhD program in History (or perhaps Government).  All students contemplating applying to any of these programs are encouraged to write directly to prospective advisors as well.  Keep in mind that you are permitted to apply to up to two Harvard PhD programs simultaneously, though you may only be admitted in one.

In general, it can be said that the language curriculum of HEAL students looks more like that of EALC PhDs, while their non-language curriculum looks more like that of History PhDs.  Thus, in order to take qualifying examinations, and depending on regional specialization, all HEAL candidates are currently required to achieve an advanced level in their primary research language (Chinese, Japanese, or Korean), a second- or third-year level in modern Japanese, and a first- or second-year level in literary Chinese.  This is the same as the requirement made of all EALC students.  Also like EALC students, HEAL PhDs need only present three fields for the qualifying examination (as opposed to four fields in History), and (with the exception of RSEA transfer students) they are required to take this examination by no later than the end of the G3 year (as opposed to the G2 year in History).

On the other hand, like all first-year History students, HEAL students are required to take the introductory methods seminar offered by the History Department (History 3900) in their first year of residence (EALC students may not take this course).  They are also expected to take part in the annual Prospectus Conference held by the History Department in late January.  Additionally, many (not all) HEAL students find it worthwhile to include at least one non-Asianist from the History Department on the examination and/or dissertation committees, and so choose to focus some part of their coursework in European, American, or another field of history taught in the History Department.  This is not a requirement, however; nor is there a European language requirement for HEAL students.

The Longer View

Because of its demanding language requirements, the HEAL PhD takes about eight years to complete on average, slightly longer than a History PhD, but about the same as that for an EALC PhD, and below the national average for PhDs in the humanities. Unlike in John Fairbank’s day, most HEAL students now enter the program with advanced skills in at least one East Asian language, and many have already begun a second. As a result, some are able to move through the program more quickly. Many HEAL students, however, take advantage of the program’s more flexible time constraints and go on to study a third or fourth language. This may be another Asian language offered by the Department, or it may be a language offered in another department altogether (e.g., Tibetan, Sanskrit, Russian, Persian, Arabic, Turkish), depending on the student’s interests.

Prospective students often ask about the relative competitiveness of the HEAL PhD in the job market. Though some PhDs go on to work in the government, and a few in the private sector, most HEAL graduates either apply for positions in departments of History or of East Asian Studies, or for postdoctoral fellowships. Recent HEAL PhDs have an extremely strong track record in both areas. Obviously, as is true of all doctoral programs, completion of the degree is no guarantee of landing a job. But within three years of finishing, virtually all HEAL graduates find themselves hired in tenure-track positions.

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As a PhD student in the Harvard philosophy program, you’ll have the opportunity to develop your ideas, knowledge, and abilities. You'll work with other doctoral students, our faculty, and visiting scholars, all in a stimulating and supportive environment. The program has strengths across a broad range of topics and areas, so you'll be able to pursue your interests wherever they may lead, especially in moral and political philosophy, aesthetics, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, the history of analytic philosophy, ancient philosophy, Immanuel Kant, and 19th and 20th century European philosophy. 

Incoming cohorts consist of five to eight students per year. You will have substantial access to our renowned faculty and all the resources that Harvard makes available. This relatively small size also gives students a sense of intellectual community.

The curriculum is structured to help you make your way towards a dissertation: graduate-level coursework, a second-year research paper, a prospectus to help you identify a dissertation topic, and then the dissertation itself. Recent dissertations in the department have addressed a broad range of topics: Aristotle, Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau; contemporary moral and political philosophy; metaphysics; epistemology; and logic.

In addition to your research, you will also have the opportunity to develop your teaching skills in many different settings across the University.

You can find graduates of the PhD program in many universities. Recent graduates have gone on to tenure track positions at Yale University, Princeton University, Brown University, Northwestern University, Boston University, University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Washington University, and the University of Rochester. Other graduates have gone on to diverse careers in, among others, the arts, law, secondary education, and technology.

In addition to the standard PhD in philosophy, the department offers a PhD in classical philosophy in collaboration with the Department of the Classics and a coordinated JD/PhD program in conjunction with Harvard Law School. The department also offers a track in Indian Philosophy (administered jointly by Philosophy and South East Asian Studies.

Additional information on the graduate program is available from the Department of Philosophy and requirements for the degree are detailed in Policies .

Areas of Study

Philosophy | Classical Philosophy | Indian Philosophy 

For information please consult the Department webpage on the  graduate program overview .

Admissions Requirements

Please review the admissions requirements and other information before applying. You can find degree program specific admissions requirements below and access additional guidance on applying from the Department of Philosophy .

Academic Background

Applicants to the program in Philosophy are required to have a strong undergraduate background in philosophy (or its equivalent), indicating that they have a good grounding in the history of philosophy, as well as familiarity with contemporary work in ethics, epistemology and metaphysics, and logic.

Personal Statement

Standardized tests.

GRE General: Optional GRE Subject: Optional

Writing Sample

A writing sample is required as part of the application and should be between 12 to 30 pages long. The sample must address a substantial philosophical problem, whether it is an evaluation or presentation of an argument, or a serious attempt to interpret a difficult text. The upload of the writing sample should be formatted for 8.5-inch x 11-inch paper, 1-inch margins, with double-spaced text in a common 12-point font, such as Times New Roman.

Applicants seeking admission to the coordinated JD/PhD program must apply to and be separately admitted to Harvard Law School and the Department of Philosophy.

Theses and Dissertations

Theses & Dissertations for Philosophy

See list of Philosophy faculty

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Questions about the program.

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Graduate Studies

Harvard University’s doctoral program in history fosters intellectual exchange and discovery for all its students through intensive training in the arts of research and teaching. Doctoral students who focus their studies on the histories of Latin America and the Caribbean are particularly fortunate because they enjoy additional opportunities.

Our doctoral students benefit from our collective approach to faculty mentorship. Our students’ community at Harvard includes not only the History Department and our Latin Americanist colleagues in neighboring departments like Government, Art History, Romance Languages, and Anthropology, but also the broad community of Latin Americanist scholars from across the university who are brought together by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies . (The Center’s listserv publicizes its lively schedule of lectures, seminars, and conferences; the Center also offers research grants to graduate students, special fellowships for graduate study , and the opportunity for graduate students to become formal Center Associates .) Additionally, the History Department’s Latin Americanists convene a regular seminar with the numerous historians of Latin America and the Caribbean who are affiliated with the greater Boston area’s many other colleges and universities, where members volunteer to workshop their writing-in-progress among friends over wine and food. Students interested in the rich history of the African Diaspora also benefit from the activities and resources of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.

Doctoral students in Latin American and Caribbean History prepare general examination fields in the histories of both the colonial and modern periods, in addition to two other fields selected in consultation with their advisors. Before they conclude the degree, they must pass written translation exams in Spanish, Portuguese, and, if necessary, a third research language.

We welcome inquiries from prospective graduate students and encourage them to contact us with questions about Harvard’s many advantages for those pursing doctoral studies in Latin American and Caribbean history.

The history of Harvard

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Asian and Pacific American history at Harvard

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Native American history at Harvard

Frequently asked history.

Harvard answers your most searched questions.

On October 28, 1636, Harvard, the first college in the American colonies, was founded.

Despite popular opinion (and a certain statue ) John Harvard did not found Harvard, but he was the first major benefactor and he donated half of his estate and his library of more than 400 books to the School. Harvard University was officially founded by a vote by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

While many think of Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts as Harvard’s campus, the University also has robust campuses in the Longwood and Allston neighborhoods of Boston, Massachusetts.

Harvard College is just one of 14 Harvard Schools. The College is for undergraduate students and the 13 graduate and professional Schools teach the rest of our students.

Learn more about Harvard’s origins in the 1600s

Historical highlight

Harvard and the legacy of slavery

On April 26, 2022, Harvard President Larry Bacow released the Report of the Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery, accepted the committee’s recommendations in full, and announced a historic commitment of $100 million to fund their implementation.

Explore the report and recommendations

This marble slab, or stele, which resides in Harvard Yard, was presented to Harvard in 1936 as a gift from Chinese alumni on the occasion of the University’s tercentenary.

Learn more about the stele

Namhi Kim Wagner

Kentarō Kaneko

Naina Lal Kidwai

James Choi Spackman

Fe del Mundo

Eight Harvard alumni sign the Declaration of Independence

John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Elbridge Gerry, Robert Treat Paine, William Williams, William Ellery, and William Hooper

Learn more about Harvard in the 1700s

Women’s history at Harvard

As staff members, then as students and faculty, the women of Harvard’s past paved the way for generation to come.

Explore our Women’s History Month celebration

Alice Hamilton

A complicated history

Grace Hopper

Barbara Deming

Black Women Oral History Project

Star analysts of Harvard

The first women at Harvard Medical School

The first Harvard-Yale football game

Yale hosted the first Harvard-Yale football game in 1875, which Harvard won, to the delight of some 150 student boosters from Cambridge.

Learn more about Harvard in the 1800s

African American History at Harvard

A complete look at Harvard’s Black history includes the dual legacies of  slavery  and discrimination along with pioneering moments of  inclusion, equity, and empowerment .

Learn about Harvard’s African and African American Program

Richard T. Greener

Alberta Virginia Scott

W.E.B. Du Bois

Eileen Jackson Southern

Clement G. Morgan

Deborah Washington Brown

Robert Tanner Freeman

Carter G. Woodson

Walter Gropius comes to Harvard

Founder of the Bauhaus art movement, Walter Gropius, became head of architecture at Graduate School of Design in 1939, ensuring that the University would have its first modern building, as well as one of the most comprehensive Bauhaus collections in the world.

Learn more about Harvard in the 1900s

The education of Native Americans is woven into the long history of Harvard University. The Charter of 1650, which continues to govern Harvard, pledges the University to “the education of English and Indian youth.”

From 1655 to 1698, the “Indian College” stood in Harvard Yard, on the site currently occupied by Matthews Hall.

It was not until 1970 that a program was established to specifically address Native American issues. In early 1970, the American Indian Program (AIP) emerged on campus.

Learn more about this history

Acknowledgement of Land and People

Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck

Eli Langley

Native American program turns 50

Short biographies of five Indian College students from the 17th century

Harvard’s first tenured professor of Native American history

The Project on Indigenous Governance and Development

Native American Heritage Month

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Graduate program.

HAA Graduate Program Handbook

Originally predicated on principles rooted in formalism and the connoisseurial practice of Paul J. Sach’s Museum Course, otherwise known as the “Fogg Method,” graduate education in the history of art and architecture at Harvard University has changed considerably over the years to keep pace with the times and to reflect innovation in research, scholarship, and teaching in the arts and humanities. Today, the Department prides itself on its intellectual diversity and rigor, with a large faculty offering courses on monuments and materials from around the globe which are studied from a variety of methodological perspectives.

During their first two years, the coursework undertaken by Ph.D. candidates permits them to focus on their chosen area of specialization while also requiring them to take advantage of the breadth of graduate education, both in and beyond the Department. In their third year, students work as teaching fellows and prepare for their comprehensive exams, which in turn serve as a foundation for future dissertation research. All students in the Department receive internal or external funding which permits them to travel during their fourth year and to conduct research in museums, libraries, collections, archives, and in situ. A dissertation completion fellowship, usually taken after one or more additional years of writing and research, allows students to complete their dissertations in the seventh or eighth year. In addition to fellowship support, advanced graduate students offer instruction in our undergraduate tutorial program.

The Department prides itself on its close mentoring of graduate students and offers various additional forms of support, as does the University itself, whether in the form of summer tuition waivers for language study or internships that enable students to work closely with curators at the Harvard Art Museums, staff of the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, or at other collections across the University, which themselves provide an unparalleled array of resources for research. A crucial strength of the program is the Fine Arts Library whose holdings of printed books, visual images, and special collections exceed one million items.

For more information, please visit the HAA Graduate Program Handbook

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Sara V. Speller, the former vice president of Harvard’s graduate union, assumed the presidency in late July after her predecessor stepped down, becoming the union’s third leader in less than a year.

Speller, a Music student at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, took over the post from former Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers President Bailey A. Plaman , who resigned after serving just eight months in office.

Plaman shared her decision at a HGSU-UAW general membership meeting on July 18.

The new presidency exchange is the latest in a series of recent vacancies in the union’s top post. Under the union’s bylaws, the vice president takes over as president for the remainder of the term if the president vacates their office.

Before assuming the presidency in late 2023, Plaman served as vice president under former HGSU-UAW President Evan C. MacKay ’19, who stepped down to run for Massachusetts State House.

Speller is expected to serve out the remainder of MacKay’s term, which expires in 2026.

Speller helms HGSU-UAW at a pivotal time for the young union, which is preparing to begin negotiating with Harvard for their third contract. The current contract, which expires on June 30, 2025, came after eight months of negotiations and a three-day strike.

Though the contract contained several union wins, there are likely to be many remaining sticking points between HGSU and the University in the upcoming negotiations, including Harvard’s treatment of student workers involved in campus activism and the use of nearly $3 million in emergency funds for union members.

“I’m really excited to see the union get even better benefits, have our rights recognized even more, have the protections that we need to really do our best work in the workplace,” Speller said.

Despite the rapid leadership turnover at the top levels of the union, Plaman said they did not feel the presidential transition would significantly affect negotiations.

“I don’t really see it as changing our preparedness,” Plaman said.

“Having new people on the executive board is just shuffling around who’s doing what,” Plaman added. “We still have a larger group of folks that are members, that are engaged, that are really leading the union forward.”

Speller said she believes the role of the executive board is to “uplift” rank-and-file members.

“While the person who may be possessing the role of president might be changing, I think the goals and the mission and the energy is very consistent and has been pretty consistent over the last few years,” she said.

Correction: August 22, 2024

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Bailey A. Plaman served for six months as president of Harvard’s graduate student union. In fact, Plaman served for eight months as the union’s president.

—Staff writer Aran Sonnad-Joshi can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him on X @asonnadjoshi .

—Staff writer Sheerea X. Yu can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on X @_shuhree_ .

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