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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

    Khalil discusses impact of the Abraham Accords in Armada International

    Leaders in Washington, D.C., have concluded that President Biden will probably not seek to change "the Abraham Accords," the U.S.-brokered agreements that normalized Israeli diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and with Bahrain. Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history, says that "the Abraham Accords will facilitate greater arms sales to the Persian Gulf region. Even before the agreement, the United Arab Emirates sought a greater role in U.S. military planning and operations and purchased large quantities of U.S. weapons." Khalil was quoted in the Armada International article, "New Dimension to Gulf."

     

    Khalil discusses the Arab Spring after 10 years on PBS NewsHour

    Ten years ago, longtime Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was deposed. The Egyptian revolution was the high point of what became known as the Arab Spring, a movement that spread across the Middle East bringing with it the possibility of democracy. But for many Egyptians and much of the region, the intervening decade, has not been kind. "I think it's tempting to think about the Arab Spring as a failure. But I think the reality is that it's really still under way," says Osamah Khalil. "Many of those same issues that brought the protest to a head and the challenging of those—of the different Arab governments still exist." Watch the full PBS NewsHour interview, "Ten years after the Arab Spring, democracy remains elusive in Egypt."

     

    McCormick discusses security between the US and Mexico in The Hill

    "At the core of reimagining policies to help our Southern neighbor should be achieving robust government institutions and stronger rule of law," writes Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations. "There are mountains of challenges in tackling these two issues. One of the criminal acts that affect the majority of Mexicans today is extortion." McCormick's article, "Improving the security situation between US-Mexico," was published in The Hill.

     

  • Spring 2021 Office Staffing

    The History department office is currently 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.