The MA program addresses four areas of specialization that reflect the thematic and regional disciplinary strengths of the graduate faculty.
International History
This program offers courses and a research concentration in International History with two clear areas of strength. The first is a focus on the history of the Cold War and its relationship to the study of international law and war crimes tribunals and the foreign policies of Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, Canada and France.
The graduate faculty in this teaching and research stream include Dr. Hilary Earl, Dr. Gordon Morrell and Dr. Robin Gendron, who are respectively specialists in modern Germany, Anglo-Soviet-American relations in the Cold War, and Canadian-French relations in the Cold War.
Scholarly research and teaching devoted to transnational themes in Environmental History are among the strengths of Dr. James Murton who is respectively specialists in the international history of sustainable development policies and practices and the history of British imperial food policy and land utilization.
Gender History
Historians working in this field recognize that gender is fundamental to historical subjectivity, is neither immutable nor fixed, and as a category or analysis, it informs a range of subject areas across historical periods and geographic boundaries. Specialists in Gender History at Nipissing: Dr. Anne Clendinning, Dr. Derek Neal and Dr. Katrina Srigley, whose publication strengths address this area of scholarship, apply a gender analysis to social, economic and cultural history from early modern Europe to the recent past in North America addressing subject areas which include the impact of constructions of gender on work, family relations, religion and sexuality.
Canadian History
The MA program offers courses and a research concentration in Canadian History from the pre-confederation to the mid-twentieth century. Graduate faculty in the Canadian field are Dr. Françoise Noël, Dr. Katrina Srigley, Dr. Dean Bavington, Dr. James Murton and Dr. Robin Gendron. Present areas of specialization that address a variety of political, economic and social themes including the history of the family, immigration, environmental history and resource management, western settlement and Canadian foreign relations.
European History
A fourth area of expertise pertains to the history of Europe from the medieval to the modern era. Topics of study reflect the publication and teaching strengths of the faculty: Dr. Anne Clendinning, Dr. Hilary Earl, Dr. Gordon Morrell, Dr. Derek Neal, Dr. Mark Crane, Dr. Steven Connor and Dr. Steven Muhlberger, and address national histories and issues related to the European experience of war and society, that engage in critical debates about a particular historical phenomena or political events. Faculty contributing to this specialization are specialists in various dimensions of British, German and Russian history.