For about fifteen years, MSU history has organized its graduate work around Nodes of Excellence. These are History of Science, Technology and Medicine (HOST); Agricultural, Rural and Environmental History (ARE); Identity: Race, Gender and Religion (RIGR) and War, Politics, and International Affairs (WPIA).

These Nodes have enabled us to hire as clusters in these areas and to provide a sense of community among the various groups. It facilitates teaching around certain areas and provides us an impressive expertise and depth in scholarship and graduate education. This synergistic organization has allowed us to gain further prominence and has cemented our already strong reputation as a cutting edge history department. We encourage cross-nodal participation and expect many of our graduate students to be adept in more than one nodal area.

Presently, the nodes are directed by the following professors:

RIGR-Professor Marshall

WPIA-Professor Barbier

ARE-Professor Giesen

HOST-Professor Hui

Please feel free to contact them with any questions.