The History Department’s faculty, staff, and students pursue research and teaching interests that span the globe. The study of history is much more than the accumulation of factual information about the past. History is based on a process of discovery, analysis, and communication: asking questions and solving problems, collecting and analyzing evidence from a variety of sources, constructing arguments, formulating conclusions, evaluating multiple interpretations, testing results, and communicating them clearly and cogently.

The department is committed to providing undergraduate and graduate students with the opportunity to engage in the process of historical discovery and analysis, giving them skills and knowledge that will be useful in every kind of work and in civic life. It is also committed to the promotion of scholarly activities and excellence in research involving faculty and students, and to service that will address the diverse needs of our students, profession, and the larger community.

At the graduate level, we are one of only two History Departments in the University of Wisconsin System (along with UW-Madison) to offer both the MA and the PhD. Our MA program allows students to pursue a general degree in History or to specialize in Public History, or Urban Historical Studies, or to do a Coordinated MA/MLIS in both History and Library/Information Science (in collaboration with UWM’s College of Community Engagement & Professions ). Our PhD program prepares students to enter the highest levels of the discipline, as well as related fields of knowledge and practice. Among undergraduates, History has long been a popular major. Our graduates have pursued successful careers in a wide range of professions, including journalists, lawyers, civil servants, librarians, archivists, primary and secondary school teachers, museum curators, and historians for government and private agencies.