Department of History

The Georgetown History Department is committed to teaching with the quality and commitment of a leading liberal arts college, and to scholarship at the level of the best international research universities. We believe that teaching and scholarship only reach distinction when they are integrated by a faculty devoted to excellence in both.

Our faculty and our classes seek global reach. We are strong in U.S. and European history, and in the rest of the world—with notable depth in Russia and Eastern Europe; the Middle East, Arab, and Islamic domains; East Asia; Latin America and Africa. And we offer growing emphases in the classroom and faculty scholarship on transnational history: the Atlantic World, the Pacific World, international diplomacy and cultural interactions, the environment, and comparative gender relations.

We bring our commitment to international scholarship and participatory teaching to two undergraduate History majors: History in Georgetown College and International History in the School of Foreign Service. The Department offers a Master of Arts in Global, International, and Comparative History, and a Ph.D. in History focused on educating strong teaching scholars committed to understanding diverse nations and cultures in global context—and to sharing that understanding in the classroom and in scholarly publications.  We also take a leading role in several international Masters programs: The Master of Science in Foreign Service, and the Master of Arts in German and European Studies, in Arab Studies, in Russian and East European Studies, and in Latin American Studies. Ultimately, we promote History as a way to understand how the world’s diverse peoples have moved from distinct pasts toward an ever more integrated present.

Statement of Welcome from Department Chair Aviel Roshwald

History Department Mission Statement and Learning Goals