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Maxwell / Department of History

  • 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

    McCormick discusses violence in Mexico with Al Jazeera, Reuters

    "Everything he (Lopez Obrador) has put into place in terms of security has either been amateur or just very papered over in terms of political rhetoric," Gladys McCormick told Al Jazeera. "The optics of what is happening on this two year anniversary are disheartening for what lays ahead," she added, "because what we are essentially going to get is more of the same." McCormick also spoke to Reuters about the assassination attempt on Mexico City's chief of police.

     

    Kyle co-edits history of early political communication in England

    Chris R. Kyle, associate professor of history, is the co-editor of Connecting Centre and Locality: Political Communication in Early Modern England, published recently by Manchester University Press. The collection, co-edited by Jason Peacey, a professor of early modern British history at University College London, explores the dynamics of local and national political culture in 17th-century Britain, with an emphasis on political communication.

     

    McCormick is the School’s new diversity, equity, and inclusion officer

    Gladys McCormick has been named the Maxwell School’s director of diversity, equity, and inclusion. McCormick will lead and advise on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the Maxwell School, and will represent the School to the University community and external stakeholders. In addition to advising, she will develop a DEI strategic plan and organize events to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the School; and will assist departments, administrators, and students in their efforts to promote DEI.