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.