The University of Chicago boasts top-ranked undergraduate and graduate programs in history. Spanning the cross-section of time and space, the history department’s students, faculty, and affiliate instructors bring different approaches, methodologies, and analytical paradigms to their fields of study. Unifying the program is the conviction that rigorous historical analysis offers a more complete understanding of the past and provides insightful knowledge for assessing and addressing the contours of the present.


To achieve these outcomes, the history department offers three undergraduate major tracks, a minor program, and a renowned doctoral program. The programs are designed to enhance students’ historical knowledge, engage them in a vibrant and intellectually rich community, and prepare them for fulfilling and successful lives beyond the university. The department welcomes cross-disciplinary collaboration at all levels of the program, encouraging undergraduates to couple a major or minor in history with fields both within and without the social sciences division.