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» MA in War and Society

Mission: The Master of Arts Program in War and Society at Chapman University educates graduate-level students in the field of war and society by rigorously examining the social, cultural, political, and moral aspects of how societies go to war, experience war, and deal with war’s consequences.

This program builds on the unique resources available at Chapman University:

The Center for American War Letters

The Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education

The Sala and Aron Samueli Holocaust Memorial Library

Vision: The Master of Arts Program in War and Society at Chapman University aims to become the nation’s premier graduate-level program for studying the global interrelationships between war and societies in the modern era. Unique to Chapman, the MA program combines traditional graduate-level education with career enhancement credentialing for professionals working in the larger field of war and society. The program will establish an intellectual foundation for educators and professionals who, upon graduation, are capable of teaching, interpreting, and solving the problems of war and its impact on society.

Students will explore topics in the following thematic areas that comprise the War and Society Program:

The influence of societal and cultural beliefs on warfare and national military policies
The impact of war on social and cultural institutions, values, and practices
The interaction between the home front and the battlefield
The impact of war on soldiers, civilians, and veterans
The relationships between war, identity, and historical memory

MA in War and Society

Deadline: Rolling

Official transcripts must be submitted from ALL degree-granting (bachelor’s or master’s degrees) colleges and universities attended. An official transcript submitted in a sealed envelope which you have received from your college or university is acceptable.
A graduate admission test is required for applicants with a bachelor's degree cumulative GPA below a 3.0. Applicants with a GPA between 2.5 and 2.99, may be considered for admission by submitting a satisfactory Graduate Record Examination (GRE) with minimum scores of Verbal: 150, Quantitative: 145, and Analytical Writing: 4.0 or by demonstrating significant relevant professional experience.
A 500 word essay stating reasons for pursuing the M.A. in War and Society.
A writing sample of 1200 words that demonstrates competency in scholarly writing.
Two letters of recommendation that speak to academic preparation and aptitude for graduate study.
Resume

4+1 Integrated Undergraduate/ MA in War and Society

Deadline: Rolling

Junior standing.
Successful completion of HIST 296.
A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above.
A 500 word essay stating reasons for pursuing the M.A. in War and Society.
A writing sample of 1200 words that demonstrates competency in scholarly writing.
Two letters of recommendation that speak to academic preparation and aptitude for graduate study.
Resume

Sample Senior Year Course Schedule for History Majors

Fall (6 units)

HIST 596: Advanced Research Thesis I (counts as M.A. elective and History B.A. major core requirement)
HIST 500: Historical Approaches to War and Society (counts as M.A. core requirement and either History B.A. 300-level course requirement OR elective towards 124 units required for B.A.)

Spring (6 units)

HIST 598: Advanced Research Thesis II (counts as M.A. elective and History B.A. major core requirement)
HIST 510: History Readings Seminar in War and Society (counts as M.A. Readings Seminar requirement and either History B.A. 300-level course requirement OR elective towards 124 units required for B.A.)

Students completing the 4+1 M.A. in War and Society MUST select a War and Society topic (approved by the Graduate Director) for their undergraduate senior thesis and register for HIST 596 /598 instead of HIST 496/498. Students will expand their senior thesis into the required Master’s thesis in the fifth year of study

Sample Senior Year Course Schedule for Non-History Majors

Fall (6 units)

HIST 500: Historical Approaches to War and Society
Elective

Spring (6 units)

HIST 501: History Readings Seminar in War and Society.
Elective

Students completing the 4+1 M.A. in War and Society MUST select a War and Society topic (approved by the Graduate Director) for their undergraduate major senior thesis or project. Students will expand their senior thesis or project into the required Master’s thesis in the fifth year of study.

What Our Graduates Can Do

The purpose of the Master of Arts Program in War and Society is to establish the intellectual foundation for professionals to think critically and creatively about the social and cultural consequences of armed conflict.

Our program’s graduates understand how war has shaped societies and in turn how societies have shaped warfare. Steeped in a multi-disciplinary curricular approach, our graduates possess a broad cultural and historical perspective on the moral and ethical implications of war. They are able to listen, read, and write effectively and demonstrate an ability to respond to problems associated with war and its aftermath. Our graduates appreciate patterns of continuity and change in how societies go to, wage, and end war and in the relationships between civilians, soldiers, and the state.

Comfortable with competing interpretations of historical events, our graduates are capable of making careful judgments on the past while gaining perspective to evaluate current-day events in a chaotic world. These skills are essential for today’s policymakers, strategists, military officers, teachers, and historians. Ultimately, our program aspires to graduate flexible and sophisticated critical thinkers capable of applying the knowledge and skills they gain in this program to bettering our modern global society.

1. Globalization: Students will demonstrate expertise in collecting and evaluating primary and secondary transnational sources using appropriate war and society methodologies.

2. Student Writing: Students will demonstrate the ability to formulate an original historical argument in thesis-driven academic essays (including a masters’ thesis), apply appropriate methods of citation, and use a clear writing style that conveys historical knowledge, ideas and evidence in a mature, readily understood manner.

3. Faculty-Student Research: Students will prepare and revise a masters’ thesis in consultation with a faculty mentor which they will present at a formally organized history conference and submit for research grants and publication.

4. Personalized Education: Students will develop a critical stance in relation to historical arguments and methodologies and formulate an original historical argument supported by primary and secondary sources.

5. Interdisciplinarity: Students will utilize interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing historical materials.

MASTER OF ARTS IN WAR AND SOCIETY

Core Courses (9 credits)

HIST 500	Historical Approaches to War and Society	3
HIST 696	Master's Thesis Research and Writing I	3
HIST 698	Master's Thesis Research and Writing II	3

Specialized Content Courses

History Reading Seminars (6 credits)

Two of the following:

HIST 510a	Readings in War and American Society	3
HIST 510b	Readings in Global War in the Twentieth Century	3
HIST 510c	Readings in Home Fronts at War	3
HIST 510d	Readings in War, Identity, and Memory	3

History research seminars (6 credits)

Two of the following:

HIST 520a	War and Grand Strategy in the Modern Era	3
HIST 520b	Memoirs of War and Resistance: The Holocaust	3
HIST 520c	Migration and War	3
HIST 520d	The Soldier's War	3

Electives (12 credits)

At least two courses selected from a discipline other than history:

CN TBD	Nazi Germany: A Society at War	3
CN TBD	Visualizing War: The Role of Propaganda	3
POSC 500	U.S. Presidents and War	3
REL 500	Just War Ethics: Conflict in the Contemporary World	3
SOC 500	Memory and Memorials: The Japanese American Internment	3
REL 501	Religious, Spiritual, and Ethical Responses to the Narco-Wars	3
SOC 501	Crimes of War	3
IS 502	Peace, Conflict and Human Rights	3
HIST 503	Moving History Forward: Perspectives on the Holocaust	3
IS 507	Issues in National Security	3
HIST 529	Experimental Course	3
ENG 541	Readings in War and Literature	3
ENG 542	Creative Writing and The Archive	3
ENG 543	Written War/Writing War	3
IS 642	Cultures of Violence and Resistance in Latin America	3
IS 680	Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Identities in Globalized World	3