The Department of History offers a variety of programs at the Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) levels that lead toward a range of careers within the profession. It boasts strong graduate programs in selected areas of American, European, African-American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Latin American history. In addition to the traditional MA degree that requires mastery of a major and a minor field and completion of a thesis, the department provides an MA with a major in public history that prepares students for careers such as archivists and museum curators and lays the groundwork for historically-oriented careers in governmental agencies and the private sector. Two other masters programs, an MA teaching track and MS as terminal degree provide other options. Particularly gifted students may be eligible for the fast-track MA-PhD programThis degree involves broad exposure to the history of art as well as focused attention to one of the department's major areas. The 36-hour Master of Arts degree is designed to develop research and writing skills that will be useful in a professional career in one of the art historical disciplines.<br>Medieval Studies at Florida State University is a growing and dynamic area of teaching and research. Faculty in the Colleges Fine Arts, Arts & Sciences, and Communications contribute to the promotion of interdisciplinary research into the Middle Ages (c. 400-1500), teaching a wide variety of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and supervising numerous masters' and doctoral dissertations in all areas of the field. Subjects taught include Archaeology, Art and Architectural History (Western, Byzantine, and medieval Islamic), Book History, History (social, economic, political, ecclesiastical, intellectual and gender), Language and Literature (including Old and Middle English, Old Norse, Medieval Welsh, Middle Dutch, Classical and Medieval Latin, Church Slavic/˜Old Russian, Spanish, Italian, Insular French and French), Manuscript Studies (including British and Continental illumination), and Musicology.