The history departments of Georgetown University and King’s College London will offer a joint master of arts in global history program beginning in the fall of 2010.

Students will earn a single joint-degree while receiving access to the resources of both history departments, as well as research materials in Washington and London.

According to a university press release, King’s College London exhibits strengths in modern British, imperial and continental European history, while Georgetown provides expertise in Middle Eastern, Russian, Eastern European, East and South Asian, Latin American, African, U.S. and global environmental history.

Aviel Roshwald, chair of Georgetown’s history department, said a wide array of benefits will come with this new joint master’s degree in global history program.

“The program gives students exposure to a different academic system, to a group of faculty that tends to complement those at Georgetown and it also gives students immediate access to two sets of national archives,” he said. “It lends itself to multi-archival research at the master’s degree level, which is practically unheard of and tends to be something you do at the doctorate level if you get enough funding.”

Georgetown currently offers a [master of arts degree in global, international and comparative history (MAGIC)](https://history.georgetown.edu/programs/magic/), and King’s College offers four different master’s degree options in medieval, early modern, imperial and commonwealth history. The joint degree in global history will not replace any existing programs at either institution.

David Painter, an associate professor of history at Georgetown and an alumnus of King’s College, crafted the joint-degree program. Painter also played an important role in the formation of the MAGIC program at Georgetown. Since the program’s creation about three years ago, Painter was interested in linking the masters program at Georgetown with that of King’s College.

“It’s a logical progression for a program that focuses on global comparative history to establish a link to another place on the globe,” Roshwald said. “[The joint degree in global history] is an ideal stepping stone to a Ph.D. in history and we believe that it can also serve as a springboard to other career options.”

Candidates for the joint master’s program will be required to complete two semesters at each institution, a thesis of at least 8,000 words and a total of 12 courses. Three of the 12 courses are required core courses, two of which need to be taken at Georgetown and one at King’s College. Two courses must be geared toward research in the form of research seminars and the remaining seven must be electives that pertain to two fields of history, whether it be two regions of the world or two aspects of the same region.

“We try to tailor the concentration of study to the student’s interests,” Roshwald said.

The program will start small, with only five or six candidates at each institution in the fall of 2010.

Bryan McCann, an associate professor of history, will direct the masters program at Georgetown, and Jim Bjork, a lecturer in modern European history, will head the program at King’s College.

“We’re looking for opportunities to build on this relationship with King’s in the direction of scholarly exchange and research visits by faculty and graduate students,” Roshwald said. “There are many . synergies that remain to be explored.”

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