Welcome

The Department of History offers students from any major a rewarding educational experience. As they seek to recover and interpret the past in all of its messy and fascinating manifestations, historians read a lot, write a lot, and speak a lot; they develop critical thinking skills which allow them to pursue successful careers not only as historians, archivists, and curators/museum professionals but also as lawyers, entrepreneurs, government officials, and leaders in the nonprofit sector.

Our 14 full-time faculty members have written award-winning books and articles on research topics ranging from the military in ancient China to public health in Latin America to the the Kansas-Missouri border during the Civil War. While we commend research, we also emphasize and prioritize teaching. More than a quarter of our faculty have won university-wide teaching awards. The majority of our classes are small, which means our students get plenty of attention, and undergraduate history majors are assigned to our dedicated and award-winning History advisor, Kathy Lillich, to help them navigate their way to successful completion of their degree.

Our major is designed to be broad, requiring students to take classes that vary widely across time and place, but the department has particular strengths in military, science, technology, medicine and environment, and gender history. To declare a history major or double-major, please visit the Office of the Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences in 107 Calvin Hall.

We are pleased to also offer history as a minor with a requirement of 21 hours of coursework. To declare a minor, please contact the office at hoffice@ksu.edu, or Melissa Janulis at janulis@ksu.edu.

We hope you will contact the Department Office anytime you have questions. Office staff are available via email Monday - Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and we would be happy to help you succeed at K-State by talking with you about our course offerings, scholarships, and our graduate program.

-David Graff
Chair, Department of History