Graduate Studies Program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Clark University is the only college in all of the Americas and Europe to provide a broad, interdisciplinary education in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The establishment of this Ph.D. program has been acclaimed by experts in the field as the most decisive step to date in furthering Holocaust and genocide scholarship.

The Ph.D. program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies offers students a range of courses covering a spectrum of topics pertaining to the history of the Holocaust and other genocides. The Ph.D. program requires mastery of four areas: modern European history, the history of the Holocaust, an area of individual expertise, and  comparative genocide. Graduate course work includes research seminars and individual directed reading for research purposes. Examples of seminar courses offered include “Life under Occupation” (Prof. Dwork), “Modern Jewish History and Thought” (Prof. Fox), “Gender, War and Genocide in 20th Century Europe” (Prof. Kuehne), “The Western Powers and the Armenian Genocide” (Prof. Payaslian), and “Social and Cultural Psychology of Genocides” (Prof. Valsiner).

The goal of the Ph.D. program is to train students in the historiographies of the Holocaust and genocides, and to teach them to do independent research. Graduate training differs from undergraduate education in that in graduate school the student is expected to achieve a deeper understanding of his or her area of specialization, to become closely familiar with the relevant methodologies and historiography, and to develop the skills necessary for independent research. The ability to conduct independent research and to generate new knowledge is the hallmark of scholarship. The Ph.D. program aims at preparing not only future Holocaust and genocide scholars but also future leaders and decision makers in government bureaucracies, corporations, and NGOs.

At the graduate level, the student is expected, through disciplined and rigorous application, to fulfill the program requirements on schedule and to prepare a “doable” and manageable Ph.D. dissertation prospectus.