Bridge Program: History

Purpose

The Bridge Program is an academic partnership between the Department of Afro-American Studies (AAS) and the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison designed to allow students to complete the M.A. in AAS and the Ph.D. in History. Students may apply simultaneously to the two programs or may apply to the History Department after they begin their program in Afro-American Studies. Although the Bridge Program is designed to attract and keep talented minority candidates at UW-Madison and to strengthen and support the presence of minority scholars in the profession of history, the Bridge Program is available to any applicant who enters the M.A. Program in Afro-American Studies with a concentration in history.

Admissions

A student will normally apply for the Bridge Program when s/he initially applies for admission to graduate study. At that time, the student shall submit applications independently to both departments. Students already in AAS may apply for admission to the History Department in the fall of their first or second M.A. year. Bridge Program applications to the History Department will be considered under the normal rules governing admissions, except that they are not to be counted in a program’s annual admissions target. Once a Bridge student is admitted to the Department of History, he or she shall be indistinguishable administratively from other students in the History Department.

Program of Study for the M.A.

The Bridge Program is designed to permit a student to meet the basic requirements of the History M.A. while completing a degree in Afro-American Studies. For their Afro-American M.A., students shall specialize in the History area.

Advisor

As soon as a student is admitted to the Bridge Program, a History faculty member in her/his field will be designated as the student's History Deparment academic advisor. This faculty member advises the student on the requirements of the selected field in the History Department (language requirements, minor requirements, etc.) to ensure that at least some of these are met while the student is completing an M.A. in AAS. The History advisor (or, if unavailable, another member of the History Department) will sit on the student’s M.A. thesis committee.

Course Work

Bridge students must take at least two History seminars (at the 700+ level in the U.S. field or at a level appropriate to other fields) while completing the M.A. in AAS. They are encouraged to take history courses in AAS at the 600+ level.

For details or to disucss possible programs of study, prospective students should contact the faculty members who work in their areas of interest (see the Admissions Packet).

For additional information please contact:

Graduate Advisor, Sandra Adell, Department of Afro-American Studies, phone 608-263-0425, fax 608-263-7198; saadell@wisc.edu

Graduate Admissions Coordinator, Jane Williams, Department of History, phone 608-263-1962, fax 608-263-5302; http://history.wisc.edu/index.htm