Department of History
Understand the Past. Shape the Future.
Analyze evidence and weigh competing perspectives to solve today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.
Think Beyond the Headlines
In a world overflowing with information, the ability to distinguish fact from opinion, evaluate evidence, and understand context has never been more important. History teaches you to ask better questions, challenge assumptions, and make informed decisions—skills valued across every profession.
Find the Path That Fits Your Goals
We offer bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees. Our curriculum spans U.S., European, and global history, allowing students to examine how people, institutions, and events continue to shape today’s world.
Historians in Action
Whether you’re preparing for law school, teaching, public history, government service, graduate study, or any other profession, the History program offers flexible pathways that align with your interests and career aspirations.
Learn Through Research and Discovery
History is an active process of investigation. Collaborate with faculty on original research, explore primary evidence, complete internships, and study abroad to develop the analytical and communication skills that set historians apart.
History is more than a record of what has been – it is a guide to what comes next.
Distinctive Programs & Projects
Roots of Contemporary Issues
Equipping students with evidence-based reasoning, writing, and critical thinking skills that connect past to present
Fallen Cougars WWII Commemoration Project
Honoring WSC alumni who gave their lives in World War II through research and digital storytelling
Hanford History Project
Preserving the complex history of the Hanford nuclear site in collaboration with regional partners
American West & Pacific Northwest
Recognized strengths in the history of the American West, Pacific Northwest, and global history
Past as Prologue
Bi-weekly radio stories that bring Northwest and global history to public audiences
Digging Up The Past Archives
A quarterly for Aspiring Historians
Hands-On Discovery
- First-year research opportunities
- Small class sizes with engaged and supportive faculty mentors
- Internship experience
- Project-based learning
- Community-engaged learning
- Public history
Our graduates pursue careers in…
- Law and public policy
- Intelligence and national security
- Libraries, museums, and archives
- Historic preservation and public history
- Education and nonprofit leadership
- Journalism, media, business
Department of History News
Ferndale Record: UK native talks American Revolution in Ferndale
Lawrence Hatter, associate professor and director of graduate studies in history, spoke at the Ferndale Library as part of a Humanities Washington series on America’s 250th celebration and was covered by the Ferndale Record.
WSU’s Noriko Kawamura appears on ‘World War II with Tom Hanks’
The final two episodes of a History Channel World War II series that includes insights from a recently-retired Washington State University professor will be airing next week.
Op-Ed: Education opens the door to opportunity
History professor Ryan Booth recently contributed his perspective to the Lewiston Tribune’s round-up of stories about America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
New Meyer’s Point grants support environmental research and hands-on learning
Along the shoreline of South Puget Sound where forests, wetlands, and marine ecosystems meet a rapidly growing urban corridor, WSU researchers and students are studying pressing environmental and cultural challenges at Meyer’s Point Environmental Field Station.