There seems to be some confusion abroad in the profession about the status of graduate study in history at Tulane. Tulane Ph.D. and M.A. programs in history will continue as before, and that there will be some enhancement in the value of the stipends of incoming and continuing doctoral students as soon as fall 2006.

Because of communications difficulties in New Orleans (U. S. mail remains very slow, and applicants were understandably skeptical of our online applications process while the university remained closed), Tulane has extended the departmental deadline for applications for fall 2006 admission to 15 February 2006. For surest communication, applicants should use the online process or send materials by private delivery carrier (e.g., UPS). Students with questions about the program or application process are asked to write to the departmental director of graduate studies, Professor Rosanne Adderley (adderley@tulane.edu). And please send Professor Adderley an email if you have sent or when you send your application, so she can know to expect it.

The confusion about our program likely stems from the news, widely reported in national media, that the university is eliminating the Graduate School. This was reported, for example in the New York Times, without the important qualifier that this is simply an administrative streamlining, and that beginning 1 July 2006 graduate programs will be administered by individual schools within the university (the School of Liberal Arts in the case of history programs). And while admissions to several Ph.D. programs within the university have been suspended, let me reiterate that the Ph.D. and M. A. programs in the Tulane department of history will continue without interruption.