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  • Department of History

    Understanding history — the record of what people have thought, said, and done — is essential in understanding the world of today. Undergraduate and graduate students explore not only events of the past, but their meaning and implications for our own lives.

    For undergraduates, the department focuses on the broad relevance of history to a variety of careers — given the discipline’s emphasis on research, writing, and critical thinking. All students complete an original research project, either through the required senior research seminar or the BA with Distinction. Our active chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the history honor society, plans field trips and hosts graduate school and career workshops. Undergraduate majors have gone on to careers in law, politics, education, journalism, business, and medicine.

    Our graduate program is characterized by close intellectual and working relationships between students and faculty. Recent graduates have received appointments on college and university faculties, in libraries and archives, and in federal and state government agencies.

    The department includes 25 current and 11 emeritus faculty members, and many have received national and international recognition for their work. The faculty includes historians of the United States, Europe, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and the Ancient World.  In addition to geographic and chronological focuses, our colleagues teach in fields such as political, social, military, and cultural history, with particular interest in political violence, empire, religion, law, women, gender and sexuality, labor, race and ethnicity, and intellectual history.

    The History Department is one of the oldest departments in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, having granted its first Ph.D. in 1883. 

  • History News

    Thompson quoted in AP article on Trump's response to COVID-19

    "He sees everything, including the implications of this terrible virus, in terms of his own political and personal success — ‘How does it affect me and my electability and my popularity,’" says Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science. She was quoted in the Associated Press article, "Analysis: US to hit 200K dead; Trump sees no need for regret."

     

    Allport discusses his forthcoming book with BBC History Extra

    Alan Allport, associate professor of history, was interviewed for a two-part feature on History Extra, the BBC's History podcast, about his forthcoming book Britain at Bay: The Epic Story of the Second World War, 1938-1941 (Penguin Random House, November 2020). The first part examines Neville Chamberlain, the outbreak of war, and the fall of France. The second part considers the Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the Battle of the Atlantic, and the broadening of the conflict to include the Soviet Union and the British empire.

     

    Scholars join faculty for 2020-21; new chairs announced

    Five tenure-track faculty members have joined the Maxwell School for the 2020-21 academic year. In addition, three current faculty members have been named chairs of their academic departments.

     

  • Fall 2020 Office Staffing

    The History department office is closed to visitors. 

    For questions regarding the Undergraduate History Program please contact: 

    Director of Undergraduate Studies:

    Professor Albrecht Diem

    Office Coordinator: 
    Christina Cleason 
    315-443-2210

    All Undergraduate Forms should be submitted electronically for review to Christina Cleason.  All office hours and meeting with students will be conducted remotely.