History Minor

A history minor is an excellent complement to every major. Students from a range of departments, especially political science, economics, sociology, psychology, global studies, journalism, education, biology, chemical engineering, and foreign languages, frequently minor in history.

At this critical moment, there are no minors more important to understanding the past, navigating the present, or imagining the future than History. History minors make sense of the world through the study of ancient times, the recent past, and everything in between. Asking interesting questions about the past and examining a range of oral, written, visual, and material sources, history minors explore and explain how peoples across time and space have lived, loved, built community, warred, reconciled, and made sense of their worlds. As much as history is a window into the past, it also helps us understand ourselves, our identities, and how we have come to inhabit the moral, ethical, social, economic, political, religious, environmental, national, ethnic, racial, gender, and sexual communities we live in today. History helps us understand how our present and possible futures grow out of a very usable and interesting past.

History minors develop all of the skills required to thrive in today's world from an understanding of the engines of change and an ability to assess and interpret conflicting evidence and interpretations, to the robust oral and written communication skills that will allow you to shape conversations in your chosen professions and communities. Regardless of your career path, a history minor will enable you to bring fresh and critical historical perspectives to the communities you live and work in. Historical thinking strengthens communities by encouraging them to think deeply about where they have come from and where they would like to go. This is a critical moment and an incredible time to declare a history minor.