Majoring in History
Look through an exceptionally global lens and use a variety of methods to explore your interests. As a history major, you might make a short film, write historical fiction, create a museum exhibit or collect oral histories from immigrants. Faculty have expertise in China, Japan, India, Germany, Italy, Russia, the Andes, Pan-Africa and the American West, South and New England. In your junior and senior years, you take small seminars in your area of specialization, exploring important historical texts and issues with other students and professors. The writing, speaking, thinking and research skills you gain as a history major will give you a strong foundation for a variety of pursuits. Some graduates move into high-tech companies, advertising firms and media companies. Others pursue advanced studies in history and other fields or go into teaching, law or business.
Research opportunities
You have many opportunities to pursue your own research interests. Our challenging program and creative environment has inspired work as diverse as a cultural history of the Outer Banks at the time of the Wright brothers' first flight and a thesis on the theories and practices of non-racialism in South Africa.
International opportunities and study abroad
We encourage you to travel to do primary research for your studies. Our students have recently done work in India, Cairo, Rome, Tokyo and Berlin. Faculty have led trips to the Mexican border to study immigration and to key locations of the civil rights movement.
