Welcome to the Undergraduate Program in History!

Here, we make history. Our majors chart their own scholarly journey by choosing from a vast array of courses that cover multiple geographic areas and temporal periods. They read and discuss the most up to date research. They dig deeply into the raw materials of the past. They visit the places they study during travel courses. They do their own research in archives both within and outside the country funded by the department. Then they take that research and produce their own pieces of scholarship often by writing an honors thesis. They publish their own work and produce a research journal of their own. Our students learn by doing. And through these explorations they wrestle with the complicated questions that have shaped both our pasts and our present.

Why Choose a Major in History?
History teaches you to appreciate and evaluate the world beyond your own lived experience.  The study of History can take you to cultures, places, and events beyond the here-and-now.  You can study the history of politics, race, war, genocide, relations between social groups, the ties between the sexes, environmental change, imperial expansion, and religion, among many other topics.
History trains you to write, think, and argue critically.  Historians are analysts of complex data, exotic documents, mysterious images, and writers of persuasive prose. Some History majors go on to graduate studies and careers in schools, universities, and archives. Others find that they are highly prepared for law school, journalism, politics, social services, or any number of other jobs that require analytical skills.
Our faculty are nationally and internationally known experts in their fields! They combine top-rate research in their specialties with a dedication to teaching. Classes are usually small so that students can work personally with professors.
USC and Los Angeles have some of the best resources for historical study in the country. Besides having its own collections of primary sources, our library provides access to databases full of historical documents. Nearby are also the world-famous Huntington Library, the Getty Museum and Library, and all the other museums and archives of the LA region.
History opens your future career path to a multitude of options from educator, to advocate, to entrepreneur. In recent years our majors have excelled at leading law and medical schools, joined prestigious PhD programs, been accepted for Teach for America, and found employment in television journalism, non-profits, real estate, and at Google, Disney, and the FBI. The American Historical Association has tips on how to make your major work for you and testimonials from majors on why being a history major helped them excel in their current jobs.
History prepares you: A 2018 study by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences reported that history majors made close to the highest earnings among humanities majors and that 87% were happy with their job. A 2023 study in the U.K. showed that humanities majors had many different pathways for employment which made it easier for them to pivot in challenging labor markets. They also found that employers valued their creativity and ability to communicate effectively. And, it established humanities majors often made “wider contributions to society.”

Learning Objectives

Students in all Van Hunnick History Department majors will demonstrate:

  • Skill in evaluating individuals, societies, organizations, cultures, and cultural expressions on their own terms across time and space.
  • Skill in reading texts, images, and artifacts.
  • Ability to research and to evaluate evidence in historical context.
  • Skill in critical thinking and expository writing based on logic and evidence.
  • An understanding of how the knowledge, skills, and abilities acquired from historical studies make it possible to negotiate the contemporary world.
  • Preparation for a wide variety of professions and post-graduate programs and professional schools.