Dynamic, diverse, and intellectually challenging, the Department of History cultivates in undergraduates a lasting curiosity about the world, and imparts useful tools for understanding and participating in it responsibly. With an emphasis on critical reading and writing, discriminating research skills, and persuasive presentation, the history major prepares students for a variety of occupations in the fields of business, government, non-profit, education, and many more. Undergraduates are guided in their path by an excellent and diverse faculty, including eight recipients of Distinguished Teaching Awards – more than any other unit on campus. Our faculty members claim as their areas of expertise nearly every continent on earth, throughout the chronological span of written history. We also have a number of adjunct faculty, allowing students to explore an interdisciplinary approach to their studies.

This major explores the historical development of imperial and colonial formations around the world, from ancient times to the current era of neoliberalism and globalization. How have imperial and colonial formations shaped larger processes and events in world history? And how have historical actors in both colonies and metropoles experienced, negotiated, advanced, and resisted imperial and colonial domination?

This major explores the centrality of race and gender in shaping and reproducing hierarchical relations of power around the world. From social classifications and legal codes in ancient and medieval societies to scientific and cultural conceptions of racial and sexual differences over the last four centuries, how have race and gender defined and denied access to power to justify and naturalize social inequalities? And how have different peoples organized politically around racial and gender identities (e.g., as women, as Chicanas, as First Nations, etc.) to contest and transform social norms?

This major explores the development of religious traditions worldwide, asking how religious beliefs, practices, and institutions have helped shape culture, politics, and ideology from pre-modern times to the present. Courses in the minor push students to consider the multifarious ways in which religion structures society and is structured by it.

This major explores experiences of civil and international wars as a means to question how violence, conflict, and other traumatic acts have shaped political, social, and cultural formations in the past and present. In addition to military history, courses in this minor examine the following aspects of war’s linkage to society: how the experiences and exigencies of war create conditions for broader changes, including changes in notions of territorial integrity, sovereignty, national belonging, citizenship, gender, and race, as people are called to serve in battle zones and on the home front.

The general minor in history allows students to study a range of subjects in different regions and at different periods in time. Students can individually construct a minor around themes not covered in the other minors, as well as work specifically in one region or in one time period.

The history of empire and colonialism minor explores the historical development of imperial and colonial formations around the world, from ancient times to the current era of neoliberalism and globalization. How have imperial and colonial formations shaped larger processes and events in world history? And how have historical actors in both colonies and metropoles experienced, negotiated, advanced, and resisted imperial and colonial domination?

The history of race, gender, and power minor explores the centrality of race and gender in shaping and reproducing hierarchical relations of power around the world. From social classifications and legal codes in ancient and medieval societies to scientific and cultural conceptions of racial and sexual differences over the last four centuries, how have race and gender defined and denied access to power to justify and naturalize social inequalities? And how have different peoples organized politically around racial and gender identities (e.g., as women, as Chicanas, as First Nations, etc.) to contest and transform social norms?

The history of religion and society minor explores the development of religious traditions worldwide, asking how religious beliefs, practices, and institutions have helped shape culture, politics, and ideology from pre-modern times to the present. Courses in the minor push students to consider the multifarious ways in which religion structures society and is structured by it.

The history of science minor gives students an introduction to the development of science in history, and its historical interpretation. It includes survey courses, a junior methods seminar, and an independent study project undertaken with the advice of a faculty member.

The history of war and society minor explores experiences of civil and international wars as a means to question how violence, conflict, and other traumatic acts have shaped political, social, and cultural formations in the past and present. In addition to military history, courses in this minor examine the following aspects of war’s linkage to society: how the experiences and exigencies of war create conditions for broader changes, including changes in notions of territorial integrity, sovereignty, national belonging, citizenship, gender, and race, as people are called to serve in battle zones and on the home front.