History

专业详情

For decades, the University of Chicago has been a leader in the study of history. Through its pioneering civilization studies programs, its intensive research-based undergraduate curriculum, and its training of academic historians as both researchers and teachers, the University of Chicago has taught undergraduates skills and habits of mind that prepare students for a wide field of endeavors—from law, government, and public policy to the arts and business. Majoring in history not only enables you to become a consumer of academic knowledge, it also prepares you to become a producer of knowledge. Undergraduate history courses first train you to explore large-scale social, cultural, and political processes by teaching historical thinking and by defining concrete questions for research. They then teach you how to locate the primary and secondary sources necessary to develop answers to these questions. Finally, they provide an opportunity for faculty assist you in transforming your research into historical arguments that shed light on the multiple ways our world, our very reality, has changed over time.

Students interested in a history major should consult the Department of History’s Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies before the end of the second year. It is, however, possible to join the major as a third-year student. Students must declare their track by the end of sixth week of Winter Quarter of their third year. Students wishing to pursue the Thesis Track or Capstone Track must also submit a short description of their proposed thesis or capstone topic.