Bachelor of Arts in Public History

The BA in Public History offers undergraduate students an in depth introduction to various fields of public and oral history, including museum management, archival practices, historical archaeology, and oral history. The degree is intended to introduce students to the study and practice of history as presented and made useful to the public in a variety of venues and professional settings, and to prepare students for further professional and academic training and success. As history majors, students receive broad training in the academic discipline of history, and broad content knowledge by surveying courses from around the globe. 

Students majoring in the Bachelor of Arts in Public History are also eligible to receive honors in history at graduation if the following conditions are met:

  1. At least one-half of the course work required in the major is completed at this university;
  2. Earned a grade point average of at least 3.5 in the major, including courses for the major taken elsewhere;
  3. Earned an overall undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 ("B") or better;
  4. Successful completion of HIST 5970, resulting in a thesis paper.

Applications for honors candidacy must be made by the beginning of the senior year. Approval of candidacy and of the honors project and project advisor rests with the department. The project advisor and one other faculty reader from the department will have the responsibility for evaluation of the completed thesis paper.

Individual courses that must be approved by and scheduled separately, such as independent studies (Hist 5951 Hist 5953), internships (Hist 5750), and community based projects (Hist 3990), can only be repeated for a total of six units each.  A one unit course can be repeated up to six times, a three unit course can be repeated twice.

Requirements (51 units)

Total units required for graduation: 120

Requirements for the B.A. in Public History

(Program Code: PHST)

Core courses: (21)
HIST 1400World History to c. 1500 3
or ANTH 1400 World History to c. 1500
HIST 1440World History from c.15003
HIST 2000United States History to 18773
HIST 2010United States History, 1877 to the Present3
SSCI 3060Expository Writing for the Social Sciences3
HIST 5840Proseminar in History3
HIST 5850Research Seminar in History3
Professional Preparation Course (3)
HIST 3230Introduction to Public History3
Professional Preparation Electives (9)
A minimum of nine units of professional preparation electives from the following9
Introduction to Cultural Resource Management
Historical Archaeology
Archival Practices
Introduction to Cultural Resource Management
Decolonizing Museums
Historic Preservation
Topics in Public History
Topics in Oral History
Collections Management
Museum Management
Exhibition Development and Design
Historical Documentaries
Museum Curation
Internship Requirement (3)
HIST 5750Internship in History3
(or) One three-unit upper-division HIST course with advisory approval
Specializations (15)
A minimum of three units chosen from five of the following six areas15
Ancient History
History of Ancient Greece
History of Rome
Ancient Egyptian Archaeology
Ancient Egyptian Art
Culture and Society in Ancient Egypt
Ancient and Early Imperial China
Archaic Greece
Roman Republic
Age of Augustus
Impact of Warfare in Antiquity
Trade, Travel, and Migration in the Ancient Mediterranean World
Ancient Egyptian History, Origins to c. 1700 B.C.E.
Ancient Egyptian History, c. 1700 B.C.E. to 1000 B.C.E
Ancient Egypt, c. 1000 B.C.E. to 495 C.E.
Ancient Egypt, c. 1000 B.C.E. to 495 C.E.
Egyptian Mining Expeditions, Their Buildings, and Their Slaves
History of Christianity I
African History
Africa to 1870
Africa 1870 to Present
The Rise, Decline and Legacy of Apartheid South Africa
Images of Africa
Gender and Development in Africa
History of Southern Africa
The History of Health and Medicine in Africa
Asian/Middle Eastern History
Classical Islamic Civilization
Modern Middle East
Ancient and Early Imperial China
Medieval China
Modern China I, 1644-1911
Modern China II, 1911-Present
Modern Chinese History in Fiction and Film
World War II in the Pacific
History of Modern East Asia
Mughal India and the Early Modern World
Modern India at the Crossroads of Empire
Arab-Israeli Conflict
Topics in Modern Middle Eastern History
Politics of Oil
European History
Ancient and Medieval Europe to the Renaissance
European History from the Renaissance to the Present
History of Ancient Greece
History of Rome
Modern Ireland
Early Medieval Europe
High Medieval Europe
Renaissance and Reformation
The Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment
Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
European Intellectual History
Twentieth Century Europe
Hitler's Europe
History of Christianity II
Tudor and Stuart England
Britain, 1688-1901
Europe Since 1945
Studies in European National History
Latin American History
History of Modern Mexico
Modern Central America
Foreign Relations of Latin America
Latin American History Through Film
Colonial Latin America
Modern Latin America
United States History
Race, Ethnicity and Immigration in the United States
African-American History, 1620-1865
African-American History, 1865-Present
American Indian History
Great Debates in African American History
Women in U.S. History, 1607-Present
Women in the Black Freedom Movement
Black Freedom Movement Through Film
Black Panthers and Black Power
The American Colonies, 1607-1783
The Evolution of American Democracy, 1783-1840
Civil War and Reconstruction
The United States, 1877-1917
The United States, 1917-1945
United States in World War II
United States History, Cold War Era
American History Through Film
Chicana/o History Through Film
LGBT History
Race, Ethnicity, and Film in America, 1920-Present
The United States, 1960s
History of California
California Indian History
Chicana/o History
Early American Biography
US Empire and Foreign Policy 1898-Present
20th Century Americans
Constitutional History of the United States
U.S. Citizenship and the Law
African American Intellectual History
Foreign Relations of the United States
History of the American West
Gender, Sex, and Conquest in the American West
Chicana/Mexicana Feminisms
Immigration and Ethnic American History
History of the U.S. - Mexico Borderlands
Total Units51