In a recent posting, Jeffrey Auerbach referred to the Ohio Board of Regents
"scrapping" all graduate programs in history except that at Ohio State. This
calls for some clarification: first of all, it is only Ph.D. programs that
are directly effected. Most of the regional state universities (including
our dept. here at Akron) will continue to offer the M.A. degree, and there
are no plans to close that part of our program down or phase it out. Even
at the Ph.D. level, what we have done here at Akron is "suspend" our Ph.D.
progam; for the time being we are not taking any new Ph.D. students. Part
of the justification for this is the dismal state of the job market. Things
could conceivably change on that front, and that is why the program has NOT
been "scrapped." Also, it should be pointed out that the Ph.D. program at
Ohio University is being retained as well as that at Ohio State, albeit in
a scaled-down version.
I realize this may seem off topic, but I thought the point needed clarification
under the "rumors of our death have been greatly exaggerated" category.
Michael F. Graham
Assistant professor of history
University of Akron