PhD in History - Europe - Medieval to Modern Times in Seattle United States | University of Washington

Welcome to the University of Washington's History Graduate Program. We specialize in educating future historians who contribute to academic knowledge about history while also teaching and connecting with wider audiences. Our program currently has over 50 students working toward MA and PhD degrees across diverse historical fields, supported by faculty with extensive expertise. We encourage interdisciplinary and comparative historical methods, allowing students to collaborate with faculty across multiple disciplines and university departments. Both faculty and graduate students participate in numerous digital history initiatives aimed at enhancing academic research, education, and public engagement with historical studies.

The Early Modern Europe period (1450-1789) encompasses Europe's significant growth during the Renaissance—marked by economic, political, imperial, and cultural changes—leading up to the Old Regime's collapse in the French Revolution. Graduate students can focus on national histories or explore comparative, transnational themes. Our early modern faculty research diverse topics, offering opportunities for graduate study in areas like Renaissance and Counter-Reformation Italy, Reformation social history, European expansion, interactions with the Americas and Ottoman Empire, early globalization, the Scientific Revolution, Baroque court culture, urban development, and social/political history.