History Major and Minor

Your future is in the making with a history degree

Today’s culture often focuses on the surface level. The study of history helps you dig deeper – and make sense of today’s world.

In the Department of History, your classes will inspire your curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking as you learn to research and understand the world’s complexity. You’ll explore across disciplines to gain knowledge in politics, society, culture, economics, and more. Through seminar-style courses, you’ll build enhanced career skills in writing, presentation, research and analysis, problem-solving, project management, critical thinking, and global understanding.

We offer coursework leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree, Bachelor of Science degree, or a minor in history. You can also study history education through our outstanding teacher preparation program.

History graduates will be able to understand and demonstrate:

• Knowledge of major historical themes and events.
• How past cultures and social organizations have developed and functioned over time.
• The relationship between past events and the present.
• Fundamental methodological skills of the historical craft, including:
  • The ability to contextualize and analyze primary source evidence.
  • Familiarity with the concepts of historical argument and interpretation.
  • The ability to formulate effective argumentation in written and oral forms.
  • The ability to conduct research, including an awareness of the basic historiography in a selected research area, and to develop historical arguments and analysis based upon primary and secondary source research.

As a history major, you’ll have flexibility and freedom to align your coursework with your career goals – prepare for teaching licensure with a second major in education, choose a pre-law path to get ready for law school applications, or craft your history coursework around the unique topics that interest you.

History minor

Are you majoring in another discipline at Iowa State? You can pursue your passion for history with our history minor or a double major. The history minor requires only 15 credits, and you can choose your classes from a wide variety of fascinating topics.

Experiences

At Iowa State, you can find your people while enjoying experiences that help you build valuable skills for your future.

Explore our wide variety of student organizations – academic clubs, honor societies, service organizations, intramural sports, and more. The Department of History in particular offers many opportunities to help you make fun connections within a community of historians and gain professional skills.

Gain leadership and service experience, enjoy fun Cyclone events at the Memorial Union, or explore ClubFest to learn how you can get involved on campus. There’s so many ways to find your fit.

Where passion for history meets career possibility

History graduates go directly into careers in education, business, and public history – just to name a few – and are also exceptionally prepared for graduate school or law school.

The skills you build here in writing, research, and project management will outlast trends, and could lead you toward career paths you may not have initially considered, from business management to library and information services.

Curious as to where a history degree could take you? Here are just some examples from our alumni.

• History teacher
• Middle school principal
• Adult services librarian
• Archaeologist
• Assistant archivist
• Professor
• Attorney
• Government teacher
• Business development manager
• Cultural services manager
• Deputy district attorney
• Operations director
• Financial advisor
• Human resources manager
• Museum curator
• Project manager
• Community development director
• Research coordinator

The LAS Career Services team can also help you plan for your future career with career development education, workshops, career fairs, and personalized career advising appointments.