With an innovative, accomplished, and diverse faculty in a wide range of fields of study, an active and supportive intellectual community, significant student diversity, and the resources of one of the world’s great research libraries, the Department of History at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers an exceptional environment for graduate study.

We offer a PhD in history and a MA/MS degree in history and information science. We do not offer an independent MA degree in history. Our program offers students a collaborative approach to the training of professional historians who will carry our discipline forward in the decades to come. In coursework, research, and writing, Illinois history graduate students explore an extraordinary range of topics, themes, and time periods. Our accomplished and innovative faculty represent many different backgrounds and interests, yielding a range of course offerings and intellectual opportunities, supported by the resources of one of the world’s great research libraries. 

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Our program

PhD in History

students at the graduate conference

The Department of History offers over 20 graduate fields of study with varying geographic, chronological, and thematic emphases. 

Among our core educational priorities in preparing graduate students is strong engagement with methods and approaches in history and other disciplines, early and regular primary-source research and writing before the dissertation, inclusion of both geographic and comparative/thematic fields, sustained and broad mentoring, and flexible career development. 

Our goal is for every student in our doctoral program to build a research record, gain teaching experience, and engage in other professional experiences necessary to succeed in the academic job market and beyond. 

We encourage prospective students to contact faculty members they would like to work with, noting that many faculty train students in numerous fields and methods. 

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MA/MS Degree in History and Information Science

person writes with a stylus on a tablet

Together with the School of Information Sciences, we offer dual degree Master of Arts degree in History and a Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science. 

The dual degree program matches expertise in historical research and writing with professional education, and prepares students for professional careers in archives, libraries, museums, historical societies, corporations, and government agencies. 

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Join a supportive community of historians

organizers of the Women and Gender History Symposium

Together with our graduate students, we have built an active and supportive community that nurtures and challenges scholars from a variety of backgrounds, and whose rich diversity of experiences we highly we value. Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds—in countries of birth and education, work experience, age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and physical ability—and we value the rich diversity of experience they bring to the community and their studies. These values are shared by the University of Illinois. 

Extracurricular colloquia, reading groups, student organizations, lectures by visiting scholars, workshops, and other events keep faculty and students engaged with cutting-edge research and interpretation.

Our department fosters and supports an active History Graduate Student Association (HGSA), which advocates for all students in the department and represents the graduate student body in nearly all departmental committees, including the Diversity Committee and the Graduate Studies Committee. It also sponsors workshops, social and cultural events, a mentoring program for new students, and opportunities to forge networks across cohorts and research interests. The department is also an active supporter of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) (Local 6300 IFT/AFT AFL-CIO, a home-grown labor union in which many of our students are leaders.

Interdisciplinary study

Professional and career development

Graduate Students at the Women and Gender History Symposium

A variety of resources are available to support graduate students as they prepare and search for an academic position or other professional work that reflects the range of skills and knowledge gained from graduate study. We offer workshops for entering the job market, practice job talks, and a pedagogy course for graduate students. The Graduate College Career Development office holds workshops for humanists on careers inside and outside of academia, and the Humanities Research Institute holds summer workshops for pre-doctoral students in the humanities interested in pursuing careers outside the academy. 

The department provides graduate students the opportunity to enter the classroom as teaching assistants (TAs) beginning in their second year.  Advanced (ABD) students are usually offered the opportunity to develop and teach their own courses, enabling them to build an exceptionally strong teaching portfolio.

History at Illinois is a pioneer member of the American Historical Association's Career Diversity project.  In 2019, it became one of only five history departments chosen to participate in the American Association of University's PhD Education Initiative, with the goal of fostering student-centered doctoral education and preparing students for a full range of career pathways.

Recent PhD employment and postdocs      Recent MS/MA employment

Questions?

Our graduate program staff are happy to answer your questions and help you navigate the program.

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Land Acknowledgement

As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a responsibility to acknowledge the historical context in which it exists. We are currently on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Peankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. It is necessary for us to acknowledge these Native Nations and for us to work with them as we move forward as an institution.