HOTS Program Overview

ADMISSION: Full Admission to the History of Technology and Science (HOTS) Program requires graduation from an accredited college or university and class rank in the upper quarter of the class. Provisional or Restricted Admission is possible for academically promising applicants. Such a student will be required to demonstrate, during the first year in the program, better-than-average ability in course work. Graduate College rules state that transfer from Restricted to Full Admission status usually requires completion of at least ten semester credit hours of graduate-level courses with a grade point average of B (3.00) or above.

GRADUATE RECORD EXAMINATION (GRE): All applicants must take the general Graduate Record Examination and send those scores to the Program Director.

TOEFL: All students whose native language is not English must take the TOEFL examination and send that score to the Program Director. A score of at least 600 is expected to merit consideration for admittance to the program.

Before beginning or completing all official university applications and procedures for graduate admission, applicants to the History of Technology and Science Program should contact the program director. 


Additional information about applying to the HOTS program can be found on the Iowa State University graduate college website dedicated to the program.

Application forms can also be accessed from the Iowa State graduate college web site.


PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS


General Requirements: A Ph.D. in HOTS requires a minimum of seventy-two hours of graduate credit beyond the bachelor's degree and forty-two hours beyond the master's degree. Students may enter the HOTS program either with or without a Master's degree, but students without a Master's degree in history will be required to earn an M.A. in history before progressing on to doctoral studies. Those with a master's degree in a field outside of history wishing to proceed directly to the doctoral program will be evaluated by the faculty of the HOTS program on a case-by-case basis. Doctoral students must complete an additional thirty hours of graduate seminars, twelve hours of research, demonstrate a reading proficiency in a world language, pass written and oral exams in major and minor fields, and complete and defend a dissertation. Attainment of a Ph.D. in HOTS requires the successful completion of all the requirements at each level of the three designated levels of status: Master's student, Doctoral student, and Doctoral candidate. 



Requirements for a Master's Degree: Students who enter the HOTS program without a Master's Degree need to first meet the requirements for a Master's degree in history, which include thirty hours of graduate credit (24 credits of course work and 6 credits of research) and the writing and defense of a Master's thesis (Plan I). Students who attain a Master's degree at another institution may be admitted directly to doctoral student status with the permission of the program director.



Master's Program of Study: By the beginning of their second semester of graduate study, students will select an area of concentration in: United States, European, or Comparative history. For those students intent on progressing to doctoral status, this concentration should be considered preparation for an eventual teaching field. Twelve hours of course work (non-research) are required to complete an area of concentration. Courses taken in this field should be general in nature and not particular to history of technology and science. Ideally, studies in the concentration area will inform the student's major field of study as a doctoral student. Upon determining an area of concentration, the master's student will select an appropriate master’s advisor from the department's tenure-line faculty, and together they will select two other faculty members to form a Program of Study Committee. One member must come from outside the Department of History.



Master's Coursework: At least 30 credits of acceptable work, at least 21 of which must be in history. All master’s degree students in the HOTS program will be required to sit in on the lectures for History 280 and 281 (history of science) and the lectures for History 284 and 285 (history of technology), taken in alternating years. Students should sign up for a three-credit History 590 for each of these four semesters with the professor teaching the 200-level class, for which lecture attendance will be graded. (Students who complete all other master’s degree requirements before two years and plan to proceed for a Ph.D. will be permitted to advance to doctoral status on condition that they complete the rest of this requirement in the following semester. All history credits included in the 30 credit minimum must be at the graduate level [400, 500, and 600].) A master's student may take up to 12 credits of 400-level history courses (except 490 and 495) for major graduate credit as part of their Program of Study. HIST 583 A (Historical Narrative) is required of all master's students. No more than 15 credits of History 590, Special Topics, may be included in the minimum 30 credits submitted for the degree, with 12 credits required for use as noted above. A master's student must maintain a 'B' average in all work at the graduate level in order to remain in good standing. Grades lower than a 'B' will be cause for departmental review of the student's status. Master's students may take a maximum of 13 credits per semester. Those with teaching assistantships may enroll for no more than 10 credits a semester.

 All HOTS students are required to register for and attend Hist 576 (Historiography of the History of Technology and Science) in the fall semester each year, where visiting scholars, program staff, and other faculty and students will present the fruits of their research and discuss issues of importance to the profession at this occasional colloquium. Hist 576 carries no credit hours and has no assignments other than attendance, which will be evaluated as part of a student’s overall status.

Master's Thesis/MRE: Under the direction of the student's advisor, the student will write a master's thesis (based upon primary source materials) or master’s research essay (thesis or MRE to be determined in discussion with the advisor). The MRE essay counts as a creative component for the Graduate College, and is defined as a research paper in which the student demonstrates a mastery of their scholarly area and the ability to do primary source research. Students will register for 6 credits of research (HIST 699) while working on their thesis/MRE. Following the completion of the thesis/MRE, and in consultation with the advisor, the student shall schedule an oral defense before the advisory committee following rules and timelines defined by the Graduate College. This will consist of a two-hour exam, and the committee will award a "no pass," "weak pass," "pass," or "pass with distinction." Students who fail the exam can retake it in the following semester, but a second failure will result in dismissal from the program. At a minimum, students must achieve a “pass” on their first attempt in order to be admitted as a doctoral student in HOTS and proceed to the Ph.D. program.



Requirements for Admission to Doctoral Candidacy: Upon completion of the Master's degree, doctoral students are required to complete an additional 42 graduate credits (18 credits of coursework, 6 credits of Directed Readings for exam preparation, and 18 research credits), demonstrate a reading proficiency in a foreign language, and pass comprehensive examinations in their major, second, and minor fields. Students will choose a major professor from the HOTS core faculty, a minor field professor, a Program of Study Committee, and establish a Program of Study by the end of their second semester in doctoral student status. 


Fields of Study: In consultation with the major professor, doctoral students must choose major, second, and minor fields of study from the academic fields listed below. Two major fields will be in either U.S. or European History, or a combination of both. All HOTS students are required to take a field in either the History of Technology or the History of Science. Doctoral students will also choose a minor field of study and a minor field advisor from the history faculty or the faculty of another department (as approved by the major professor). The minor field will constitute a teaching or professional preparation field and students will meet the appropriate requirements including at least six hours of graduate course work (3 credits of which may be in Directed Readings) and passing examinations. The minor field should not be a mere subset of the history of technology, history of science, or the designated major field of study.

Major Fields: Select two 


United States History to 1865


United States History since 1865


Europe to 1500


Europe since 1500
 


Second Field: Select one 


History of Technology, comprehensive chronology

History of Science, comprehensive chronology

Minor Fields: Select one


Any of the other major fields


History of Medicine

Environmental History


Agricultural History and Rural Studies


Latin America


East Asia


Women's History


African American History


Military History

Other fields as appropriate, defined with approval of HOTS faculty and POS

Program of Study Committee: The Graduate College requires the establishment of a Program of Study Committee. This committee should be chosen during the student's first year of study although it may be changed later because the student's plans have changed or become more firmly fixed, The Program of Study Committee must include five members of the graduate faculty. The complete Program of Study Committee includes:

* the major professor in HOTS who should represent a special field that the student intends to offer in the admittance-to-candidacy examinations and under whose direction the Ph.D. dissertation will be written;
* two other HOTS Program faculty (either core or participating) in the Department of History, who should represent the other fields of history offered in the preliminary examinations and who will act as consulting advisors on the dissertation;
* one faculty member who serves as the student's minor field advisor.
* one faculty member from the Department of History or outside the department.

The three HOTS members of the Program of Study Committee shall serve as examiners for the written and oral examinations in the student's major field and second field. The minor field advisor shall serve as an examiner for the written examination in the minor field. All five members of the committee shall serve as examiners for the oral defense of the dissertation (final examination).

Course Requirements for the Program of Study: The student and the major professor will develop a separate Program of Study for doctoral studies distinct from the POS for the Master's degree with a strong emphasis in HOTS courses. The Doctoral Program of Study should be submitted by the end of the second semester in doctoral student status. On the Program of Study form, all post-bachelor's degree coursework is included and must be a minimum of seventy-two credits, at least forty-two of which should be beyond the master's degree. Doctoral students will complete 18 credit hours of seminar work (3 credits in a major field seminar and 6 credits in designated comparative courses) and 6 credit hours in Directed Readings. In consultation with the program director, a major professor may require specific courses particular to the doctoral student's POS. The final eighteen credit hours will be completed doing dissertation research once the student has reached doctoral candidacy. All HOTS students are required to register for and attend Hist 576 (Historiography of the History of Technology and Science) in the fall semester each year, where visiting scholars, program and other faculty and students will present the fruits of their research and discuss issues of importance to the profession at this occasional colloquium. Hist 576 carries no credit hours and has no assignments other than attendance, which will be evaluated as part of a student’s overall status. Coursework should be chosen carefully, in order to prepare the student for his or her chosen major, minor and comparative fields. Courses, where possible, should be drawn from graduate seminars and proseminars. Students who enter the HOTS Ph.D. program without having earned a master’s degree in the ISU HOTS program will be required to sit in on the lectures for History 280 and 281 (history of science) and the lectures for History 284 and 285 (history of technology), signing up for a three-credit History 590 for each of these four semesters with the professor teaching the 200-level class, for which lecture attendance will be graded.

Grades: Students must make at least a "B" in all work taken for graduate credit. Course grades, however, are not the entire basis for evaluating student performance. Following the mid-term of each spring semester, the Program Director will solicit written evaluations of each student in doctoral student status from the appropriate faculty members. The Program Director and the Graduate Committee meet annually to review each student's academic, research, and teaching performance. At that time, the Program Director will make a recommendation concerning the student's continuation in the program and/or the continuation of an assistantship to the Chair of the Department of History. The Program Director will also meet with each doctoral student and advise them of this recommendation and provide them copies of the written faculty evaluations.



World Languages Proficiency: The HOTS program requires that all doctoral students demonstrate a reading proficiency in a world language before they are allowed to progress to doctoral candidacy. The circumstances for meeting this requirement should be supervised by the major professor and should be considered as part of the Program of Study. 
Students who seek to fulfill their research requirement in a modern European language can satisfy the requirement by

* enrolling in, and passing with a grade of B or higher while a graduate student, the equivalent of at least two semesters of an intensive foreign language course; or
* translating, with the use of a dictionary, in a reading examination set by a Department of History faculty member, enough material from a text in the language, with sufficient accuracy, to show adequate command of the language for purposes of research in it. Students desiring to fulfill the requirements in other languages will consult with their committee.

A doctoral student may use the same world language that they demonstrated proficiency of for a previous degree; students admitted from another institution will be required to demonstrate that proficiency through a written exam. Language requirements must be met by the time the student becomes ABD. In NO instance can a demonstrated competency in statistics and computer-based research be substituted for the language requirement at the doctoral student level. If such research tools are necessary for the completion of doctoral research they may be acquired by taking Statistical Methods for Research Workers (Stat 401) and Historical Methods-Statistical Evidence and Analysis (583B), or their equivalent as part of the Program of Study. 



English Language Requirement: The Graduate College requires that all students must meet a Graduate College English requirement before completing twelve credit hours of graduate work at Iowa State University. Check with the Graduate College or the English Department for more details. 


Preliminary Examinations (Major and Minor Fields): Doctoral students should plan to take their examinations early in their fourth semester of study at doctoral student status. Exams will consist of four, four-hour exams over two weeks. Major field examinations will consist of a written and oral component. Minor field examinations will consist of a written component and, if necessary, an oral examination. Students will be graded within the following range:

* Pass with distinction
* Pass
* Pass – poor
* Fail

In the first two instances the student may proceed to Doctoral Candidacy without conditions. In the third instance, the student may be required to complete additional course or written work. A "Fail" requires retaking the examination, but no sooner than six months after the failure. In most cases the student will be required to withdraw from the program after failing examinations. In no instance may an examination be taken more than twice. In the event that five years pass between the preliminary examinations and the final oral defense of the dissertation, the student may be required to retake the preliminary examinations. 



Requirements for Degree Completion
Dissertation and Final Examination: Each doctoral candidate shall write a dissertation on a topic selected by the candidate with the approval of the major professor. Candidates will register for at least 18 credit hours of dissertation research (HIST 699). The dissertation must address some aspect of history of technology, or history of science, or history of medicine, broadly defined. The candidate will be required to prepare and defend orally a formal dissertation proposal, which defines the subject area and problem to be the researched, suggests a tentative thesis, and demonstrates knowledge of the research materials for the dissertation. The dissertation shall be written under the primary direction of the major professor or co-chairs of the committee, but in consultation with the other committee members upon authorization by the major professor. The Final Examination, which is oral, is intended principally as a defense of the dissertation. The exam will be administered by the Program of Study Committee upon the completion of the dissertation by the student. Candidates must consult the Graduate College for details on university dissertation requirements, format, and time schedules.