Welcome
The UCI Department of History is a large and diverse department that allows both undergraduate and graduate students to study a wide array of human experiences. Our Undergraduate Program allows students to cover five centuries or more of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Middle East and African history. We also have a survey in World History that traces the interactions and origins of the globalism that daily affects us as well as courses in American ethnic history that study how Native Americans, Latin Americans, Asian-Americans, African-Americans, and others have contributed to the development of the United States. In addition, a number of faculty study gender and women’s history in all these areas as well.
Undergraduates can study the inquisition, the Holocaust, and slavery; and can also learn about 1950’s United States, Civil War women, the age of the Samurai, and the history of coffee. Our gifted faculty are experts, and have published books on places such as the United States, England, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Korea and have studied and lived in the Middle East, China, Japan, Mexico, Spain, And Chile. Our faculty study political, social, and cultural history and are interested in the creation of the world economy, the effects of the Internet, John Lennon, Mexican railroad workers, the Civil War and World War II, among numerous other topics.
The Graduate Program in History combines a distinctive approach to graduate study. The program is designed to provide students with both advanced historical skills and a rigorous grounding in historical theory. We believe that the best historical research involves the self-conscious use of theory to pose significant questions and to answer them in sophisticated ways. This combination of theoretical study with training in historical method reflects the Department’s conviction that scholars should be encouraged to deal with significant questions about the past and to approach these questions in a methodologically sophisticated way. The Department is small enough to offer close attention to students’ specific needs but large enough to function as an intellectual research community.
We are a disparate group united by our deep curiosity and the desire to try out new ways of thinking and new forms of evidence. We agree with William Faulkner who said: “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” We are caught in a web of past experiences, ideas and lessons that direct our actions every day. Many things we take for granted have interesting histories; indeed, history provides us with cautionary tales of what to avoid and hope for future improvement. Studying history helps us to be critical and understanding.
We believe that history is fun. The History Channel, movies like Ben Hur, Gandhi, and Gladiator, show that the past still entertains us all. For students, we also know that the study of history is both useful as well as being rewarding in and of itself. Over the years, we have prepared a number of students for professional (law, teaching, business, etc.), graduate, and academic careers. In an era that is rapidly changing what could be more relevant than a field that studies the process of change over time?
We in the Department of History pride ourselves on our teaching and research and we invite you to study the world with us!