Dale Center for the Study of War and Society
War and Society Graduate Programs
Page Content
The Dale Center for the Study of War & Society and History program of the School of
Humanities at the University of Southern Mississippi allows students to concentrate
in a wide variety of research areas related to the study of conflict. War and Society
scholars ordinarily examine the links between the social, cultural, and political
values of societies and the wars they wage. Several historians at Southern Miss have
specialties that complement this approach. Our graduate program can also support
more traditional Military History topics such as operations, strategy, and tactics.
Thus our program allows for a great deal of flexibility and creativity in combining
War and Society and traditional Military History approaches to the study of the history
of conflict.
We hope to produce students who can speak to wide literatures and enter the job market as well-defined and broadly-trained scholars. As home to a faculty with a unique concentration of interests related to the study of war, the Dale Center is an ideal place to train graduate students for careers in college and university teaching, research, Professional Military Education, governmental or non-profit work, or Public History. We are proud that the U. S. military has trusted the Dale Center to educate a number of officers who will go on to teach the leaders of tomorrow鈥檚 U.S. armed forces. The Dale Center is also gratified to be able to offer our advance PhD students the opportunity to work as research fellows with the U.S. Army's Center for Military History.
A listing of our current graduate students offers a glimpse into the research and scholarship being pursued in the Dale Center. Our record of graduate placement highlights the success of our graduates in finding great jobs in many different fields.
If you have any further questions about the graduate programs in War and Society at Southern Miss, please contact the History program's Director of Graduate Studies, Dr.%20Heather%20Stur.
Masters Programs
Students in the History MA program can take a major field in war and society/military,
American, or European history. War and society is also a minor field option for students
taking American or European history as their major field. Students who choose a geographic
major field may write their master鈥檚 thesis on a war and society or military topic
in the context of American or European history. Students take a number of core classes
in the methods and practices of history as well as specific historiographical courses
in American, European, and military history. In addition, students in the MA program
take a comprehensive exam, prepare one foreign language or research tool, and write a Master鈥檚 thesis.
For more information on specific requirements for these programs, see the .
Doctoral Program
Like those in the MA program, students in the History PhD program can take a major field in war and society/military, American, or European history. PhD students take two minor fields in addition to their major field, and war and society is a minor field option for students taking a major field in American or European history. Students who choose a geographic major field may write their dissertation on a war and society or military topic in the context of American or European history.
A minimum of fifty-four (54) semester hours of course credit beyond the Masters degree is required, which includes historiography courses relevant to the student鈥檚 major and minor fields and additional 600/700-level courses in the student鈥檚 major and minor areas. PhD students must also pass rigorous written and oral comprehensive exams in the major and minor fields and write an original and persuasive dissertation. Additional PhD requirements include training in either a research tool or a foreign language.
For the list of required War and Society field readings for the PhD comprehensive exam, click here.
For more information on degree requirements, please see the .
Assistantships and Other Funding
We offer several competitive assistantships for both MA and Ph.D. students. The deadline to apply is February 15. First time applicants should indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for an assistantship. Students on assistantships who are working on their MAs usually serve as a grader, tutor in the History Lab, or an assistant to a faculty member. At the Ph.D. level, students may serve as a grader, a faculty assistant, or teach their own sections of History 101 or 102. Other types of assistantship may also be assigned. Assistants work no more than twenty (20) hours a week; they receive a stipend, tuition waiver (in-state or out-of-state) and basic health insurance (with a student co-pay each pay period).
In addition to the normal graduate assistantships, the Dale Center offers several fellowships and scholarships, on a competitive basis, to augment or replace assistantship funding:
- Colonel W. Wayde Benson (樱桃视频C ret.) Fellowships
- Margaret Boone Dale Fellowship for Research in Women and War
- Dale Center/U. S. Army Center for Military History Fellowship
- Lamar Powell Graduate War & Society Scholarship
- Pat and Jean Welsh Dale Center Graduate Fellowship
Resources for Graduate Study
The at Southern Miss have a growing collection to support our concentration areas in
War and Society studies. Of special interest to military historians is the 103d Infantry Division Archive, which holds numerous documents and artifacts from the World War II era. offers a variety of historical resources ranging from fifteenth-century illuminated
manuscripts to Civil War letters, Civil Rights documents and current Mississippiana.
Special Collections are located in the William David McCain building, erected in 1976.
Nearly 24,000 square feet are dedicated to Special Collections, comprised of four
units: University Archives; Rare Books and Mississippiana; Historical Manuscripts;
and the de Grummond Children鈥檚 Literature Collection.
The Dale Center's 103rd Infantry Division Digital Humanities Project, as well as the university's archival collections from the Division, is an amazing resource on the history of the Second World War in the European Theater. The website offers an unprecedented repository of official primary sources and personal accounts of the officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division as it trained for war and then fought its way across France, Germany, and Austria in 1944 and 1945.
In addition to these special resources, 樱桃视频's award-winning Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage (COHCH) houses a collection of hundreds of interviews focused on the American experience of war. These interviews are available for student use and graduate students can also pursue a research tool in Oral History techniques with the staff of the COHCH.
The War and Society program at 樱桃视频 also boasts an active study abroad component, in conjunction with the university鈥檚 Center for International Education. Enrolled students can conduct primary research abroad and have the opportunity to study the history of war in places such as France, Britain, and Vietnam.
In addition, The Center for Digital Humanities at 樱桃视频 supports academics and institutions in Mississippi who use digital tools to explain, study, and preserve scholarship in the humanities, including war and society studies. The Center provides training in the digital humanities through workshops, summer programs, and graduate classes, and will work one-on-one with scholars to conduct and present their research using the most effective and up-to-date digital tools available.
Courses
This is just a sample of the classes taught in the War and Society curriculum at Southern Miss:
- War in Pre-modern Europe
- Early American War & Society
- American Revolution
- U.S. Civil War
- World War I
- World War II
- World War II--British Studies (Study Abroad)
- The Vietnam War
- The Vietnam War--Vietnam Studies (Study Abroad)
- U.S. Foreign Relations
- Woman and War
- Topics in the History of War & Society (various topics)
- Asian Military History Through Films
- History of the Militia and the U.S. National Guard
- U.S. Conflicts since Vietnam
- War and American Communities
- Native American Warfare
- War & Society Historiography
- Graduate Seminar in War and Society (various topics)
- Women and Gender in War
- The Cultural History of 20th Century European Warfare
- The American Civil War: The Latest Historiography
- World War I and the Vietnam War: A Historiographical Comparison
If you have any further questions about the graduate programs in War and Society at Southern Miss, please contact the History program's Director of Graduate Studies, Dr.%20Heather%20Stur.
