BGSU history graduates highly sought-after

At a time when academic unemployment persists and underemployment is widespread, one graduate program at Bowling Green State University has quietly put together a record of placing its Ph.D.s in tenure-track jobs at a rate more than twice the national average.

The Department of History at BGSU has graduated 11 history Ph.D.s since 1995. Of these, six, or 55 percent, have found full-time, tenure-track employment at four-year institutions, a rate far greater than the national average of 22 percent for the same years for institutions of comparable size, as reported last May in the American Historical Association's newsletter, "Perspectives."

The placements include positions at institutions not only in the Midwest but also in every region of the country, including Weber State (Utah), McNeese State (La.), Edinboro University (Pa.), King College (Tenn.) and St. Francis University (Ind.).

When the number of students who have found work in other college-level teaching positions or art museums are figured in, the placement rate soars: the department has succeeded in placing more than 92 percent of its students in professional, history-related jobs.

How do they do it? Department chair Dr. Donald Nieman credits a combination of factors: a deliberately small and focused graduate education program, a sensitivity to the needs of the market and a unique placement effort.

"In a job market as difficult as this one, we feel we have a responsibility to do everything we can to help our students navigate it," Nieman says.

Placement efforts are spearheaded by Dr. Edmund Danziger. "We encourage graduate students to start thinking about placement from their first year in the program," the history professor says.

Built into the degree program are requirements that students take courses to improve their teaching skills; extensive financial support for travel to present research at conferences, and opportunities to teach in more than one historical field.

"Our Ph.D.s graduate prepared to teach a wide range of students, and the institutions that come to us for job candidates know that," graduate coordinator and associate professor Dr. Scott Martin says. "Our graduates are skilled in teaching the kinds of students these colleges and universities serve. The placement program gets that word out."

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