Our program is designed to give students flexibility to create a plan of study that matches their interests, while at the same time provide a breadth of training in different fields that will prepare students in historiography, research methods, and teaching approaches. Students can select concentrations leading to preparation for careers in teaching and scholarship and as specialists for various branches of government, business, and public service. Students in the program are normally expected to pursue the degrees of master of arts or doctor of philosophy.

The department also participates, together with Collegium Civitas of Warsaw, Poland and the University of Tartu in Estonia, in a unique transatlantic multidisciplinary dual degree M.A. program in East-Central European area studies. Students from both sides of the Atlantic spend two academic semesters overseas and will complete relevant coursework at West Virginia University and one of the two European institutions. They also have the opportunity to acquire language training and gain valuable experience through professional internships.

Students will complete the equivalent of sixty U.S. credit hours: thirty hours in the history program at WVU, and thirty hours in the international relations program at Collegium Civitas or the Baltic studies program at the University of Tartu. Master?s theses will be defended at one of the two European institutions and WVU. The dual degrees, in history from WVU and in international relations or Baltic studies from one of the two European institutions, are awarded once credit hour and degree requirements are met at all three institutions.