Here in the Department of History, we think critically about the world we live in through the lens of the past.

In our program, you will acquire skills that help you meet goals in your career and beyond. Come join us!

Fall 2025 Course Offerings

A deep curiosity about the past motivates our students. The knowledge and skills you gain from our degree programs are applicable to many aspects of your life. History majors and minors are everywhere, with careers in education and government, law and medicine, journalism and the arts, business and science, libraries and museums. The major and minor in History at the University of Houston focus on portable skills like writing, critical thinking, and research. Students build networks through program partnerships and internships. History undergraduates learn to ask important questions and seek valuable information, both in their careers and their communities.

• Going to law school? Take our Law and Public Policy track to prepare.
• History majors and minors find careers in federal, state, and local government and the public sector. Historians also serve in the United States Armed Forces.
• See yourself at a museum or historical site? Our track in Public History and highly regarded Center for Public History can help you make that happen.
• Large businesses and organizations often employ a corporate historian.
• Interested in energy consulting or sustainability? Our Energy and Environment track will put you in classes with faculty specialized in these areas.
• Our History of Science, Medicine, and Technology track supports applicants to medical school and students interested in technological research.
• Our minor in Latin American Studies is for students in History as well as business, hospitality, social sciences who seek a broader understanding of this region.
• Thinking about graduate school? Become a professor, consultant, librarian, archivist, or a genealogist with a graduate degree in History.
• History majors and minors make great educators. Our graduates provide information that matters to people who need it.

Through our professional tracks in history, those pursuing the BA in History can concentrate on one of the four areas (Energy and Environment; Law and Public Policy; Public History; Science, Medicine, and Technology) within the existing major requirements.

Our faculty mentor undergraduate students and guide them as they do research. History students regularly participate in University-wide initiatives to fund undergraduate research. Our faculty has special strengths in Africa, East and South Asia, Europe, Latin America, Mexico and Borderlands, the Middle East, and the United States, covering chronological periods from ancient days to contemporary times. Faculty members connect students with local organizations and projects that focus on Houston history, while drawing out global connections. We look to the past using many different approaches including intellectual, social, political, economic, legal, cultural, public, environmental, medical, and urban history. Depending on your research interests, our faculty can train you to use many tools in our practice, digging into archives or creating digital modes of historical storytelling. 

We offer big surveys and small seminars. Classes meet on campus but will also take you to museums, archives, and libraries in Houston. Assignments may range from producing a podcast for a public audience to contributing to Houston History to writing a grant proposal. Your Capstone Course research will allow you to delve into a topic that fascinates you, or you can devote a year of research to a Senior Honors Thesis project. Because we focus on critical thinking, reading, and writing, history courses are exceptionally useful today.

Reach out to our student advisor or our professors to learn why being a history major is meaningful and why history matters.