History is a dynamic curriculum of study that helps students cultivate coveted skills for life after college. History students become inventive and capable thinkers, researchers, writers, and communicators.

Our major and minor encourages teamwork and trains students to approach issues from diverse viewpoints to make informed decisions. In addition, historical research requires analysis of primary sources, secondary sources, and an array of technology and web-based resources to make clear and compelling arguments, observations, and informed recommendations. Few other disciplines hone such a wide variety of skills, making history students uniquely suited to excel in multiple professions. 

As a history major or minor, you will learn to:   

• Organize and manage diverse and complex information   

• Express strong and persuasive evidence-based arguments in writing and speech   

• Build unparalleled research skills through deep and broad inquiry   

• Explore the complexity of the human experience across time and space   

• Use the lessons of the past to understand the present   

Developing these skills is vital for success in the major and minor and in college more generally. More importantly, these skills enable individuals to achieve success beyond their formal education: they engender self-confidence, they enhance the ability to solve problems creatively and fairly, and they encourage individuals to recognize their capacity to become influential leaders at home, in the workplace, and within their communities. In other words, emphasizing these skills ensures that our history majors and minors are highly adaptable in a rapidly changing global economy.

Moreover, acquiring and refining these skills also helps history students realize that while not all problems are easily solved, they are equipped with the knowledge and expertise to meet present challenges carefully and thoughtfully. They can do so because they can draw on their understanding of the extraordinary complexity of the past to understand the present and help usher in a better future.