Everything and Everyone has a History

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Read article: From history major to social studies teacher: Q&A with alumna Hailey Baumstein
From history major to social studies teacher: Q&A with alumna Hailey Baumstein
Meet Hailey Baumstein (BA,'17, history; MA,'22, education policy, organization, & leadership), a social studies teacher, girls' cross country coach, and assistant track coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School. She began her career at Thornton Township High School before transitioning to...
Read article: From history major to Google project manager: Q&A with alumna Ljubica Basica
From history major to Google project manager: Q&A with alumna Ljubica Basica
Meet Ljubica Basica (BA,'18, history and political science; MBA,'23), a project manager at Google with Mandiant Cybersecurity Consulting. Her journey after graduating with a BA in history and political science led her from working in government, to completing her MBA and now working in...
Read article: From history major to CEO: Q&A with alumnus Thomas Dowling
From history major to CEO: Q&A with alumnus Thomas Dowling
Meet Thomas Dowling (BA,'18, history and political science), the co-founder and former CEO of TaxProper, a property tax software start-up acquired by Opendoor in 2022. Dowling is currently the director of TaxProper under Opendoor. He was also appointed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to be the...
Read article: Two history graduate students selected as 2025-26 Humanities Research Institute Fellows
Two history graduate students selected as 2025-26 Humanities Research Institute Fellows
Stanislav Khudzik and Priyanka Zylstra, graduate students in the Department of History, have been selected as 2025-26 Humanities Research Institute graduate fellows. Campus Fellowships are awarded to Illinois...
Read article: Shannon Croft awarded Excellence Award for Graduate Contacts from Graduate College
Shannon Croft awarded Excellence Award for Graduate Contacts from Graduate College
We're pleased to announce that our graduate program coordinator, Shannon Croft, has been awarded the Excellence Award for Graduate Contacts by the University of Illinois Graduate College. Croft has worked with the History department for nearly ten years. From the the...
Read article: The evolution of surrender: New book by professor emeritus John A. Lynn II explores surrender from the middle ages to the present
The evolution of surrender: New book by professor emeritus John A. Lynn II explores surrender from the middle ages to the present

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Chart Your Own Path

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Our program empowers you to explore your interests and passions within history and gives you the flexibility to pair the major with advanced language study, internships, study abroad experiences, undergraduate research, and community engagement.  

Black Music

What is black music, and how do we know what we think we know about it? Examine musical creations pioneered by Africans and individuals of African descent over several centuries and across hemispheres.

HIST 104

Western Worlds: Ancient and Medieval Societies from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe

Explore Western societies from antiquity to the early modern age in western Asia, North Africa, and Europe; with an emphasis on cultural exchange, migration, and the transmission of knowledge, ideas, technologies, and arts.

HIST 141

American Environmental History

Learn the ways that "natural" forces have helped to shape American history; the ways that human beings have shaped, altered, and interacted with nature over time; and the ways that cultural, philosophical, scientific, and political attitudes toward the environment have changed from pre-history to the present.

HIST 202

Digital Documentary Publishing

Learn about the craft of publishing historical materials, with a special focus on how to publish the past in the digital age.

HIST 207

Modern Japanese History

Explore the history of the Japanese people, their social and cultural systems, politics, and economy, from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.

HIST 227

Constructing Race in America

An interdisciplinary examination of the historical, cultural, and social dimensions of race and ethnicity in the United States.

HIST 281

Global History of Intelligence

Examine the role of both diplomatic and military intelligence in the political history of major global events and developments from the nineteenth century to the present day.

HIST 311

Middle East since World War I

Explore political-economic, social and ideological developments in Egypt, Arabia, and Fertile Crescent (including Israel), Iran and Turkey since 1918 to the present, including U.S. involvement.

HIST 337

History of the American West

Explore the history of the American West in the continental U.S. in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on the process of annexation of Indigenous lands, colonization of Indigenous peoples and U.S. settler-colonialism on Indigenous lands.

HIST 476

Title
Conduct Your Own Research

Body

Research is embedded in the history curriculum with an emphasis on transforming students from consumers of history to critical producers of it. All students have access to the resources of the second largest university library in the country. 

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Matthew Filter

Alumni Spotlight: Matthew Filter (2008)

Matthew Filter is the economic development manager for the Durham County government.