Welcome to the Department of History

The Department of History offers the Bachelor of Arts degree and the Master of Arts degree in history. The programs are designed to give students insight into the world in which they live and into the forces and events that have shaped and molded that world. In its broadest sense, the discipline of history provides the background for all other subjects and disciplines. The classical goal of self-knowledge can be enhanced through the study of history. The analytical study of history provides an understanding of “why we are what we are” and “how we came to be where we are today.” The purpose of historical study is not only to understand our own past and present, but also to gain an appreciation of the evolution of other cultures and civilizations. Students interested in careers in the fields of law, teaching, public service, international affairs, business, journalism, and a variety of other areas involving the social sciences and humanities will find the history major beneficial and rewarding.

Top Ten Reasons to study History at UAB.

1. Our faculty have published over sixty books on a wide variety of topics.

2. Our student honor society, Phi Alpha Theta publishes The Vulcan Historical Review, a journal written and edited by students which has won several national awards. This means that students have the opportunity to have their work published in a nationally recognized journal.

3. Our department offers a number of study away opportunities.

4. All of our students are involved in research projects using primary sources and we offer an Honors degree in History.

5. Our graduates have high acceptance rates in PhD programs, law schools, medical schools and Library Science programs.

6. We offer courses on the history of a broad variety of regions  including US, Europe(Germany, France, Russia, Britain, Ireland, Spain), Asia (China, Japan), the Middle East and Latin American.

7. We offer courses in all time periods from Ancient Egypt and Classical Greece and Rome to the 21st century.

8.We offer courses on a wide range of topics including Popular Culture, Military History, Women's History, Labor History, the Social History of Crime and Violence, The History of Medicine, Film History, Constitutional History, The history of Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing, Empires and Exploration and the history of the Civil Rights movement.

 9. We offer innovative course such as Reacting to the Past, World War II Day-by-Day and Clash of Civilizations which looks at clashes between the West and the Arab world from the days of the Greeks and Persians to 9/11.

10. Several of our faculty have won major teaching awards including Professor Andrew Keitt who was the 2010 Alabama Professor of the year.