Why USC?
While members of the department bring a wide variety of interests to the graduate program, we have made a collective effort to establish USC as one of the strongest schools in the country in several areas:
Southern History
Our faculty is especially deep in the field of southern history, including the experiences of African Americans and women in the region. Professors Dan Carter, Bobby Donaldson, Don Doyle, Walter Edgar, Lacy K. Ford Jr., Wanda Hendricks, Daniel Littlefield, Valinda Littlefield, Pat Maney, Mark M. Smith, Marjorie Spruill, and Patricia Sullivan provide USC with leading specialists who range from the colonial era to the contemporary era and who take interest in many different aspects of the South. The study of southern history at USC is further facilitated by convenient access to some of the richest research libraries on the topic, particularly the university’s South Caroliniana Library and the state’s Department of Archives and History.
Comparative Thematic Curriculum
While we cultivate the advantages of our location in the South, our curriculum is at the forefront of academic efforts to transcend geographic barriers and achieve a global perspective. This strategy helps to keep our students at the cutting edge of scholarship and introduces them to outstanding faculty members who work on geographic areas in which we do not specialize for doctoral training. Recent comparative courses have focused on the history of gender, consumerism,
tourism, nationalism, and technology, and on environmental history.
Public History
USC offers one of the most successful public history programs in the country. It is the only graduate program to have received the Robert Kelley Memorial Award, presented by the National Council on Public History for outstanding achievement in the field, and the only program whose students have received two Student Project Awards from the NCPH. The master’s degree program in Public History trains students for careers in museum administration, historic preservation, and archive management. Candidates for the Ph.D. may choose Public History as one of their minor fields, which expands the skill set our graduates bring to the job market and prepares them to enjoy wide-ranging professional experiences.
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