About the Undergraduate Program
UCI’s History Department is home to a diverse community of scholars, teachers, and students. Whether you are planning to major or minor in history, or just take a course or two, the Department offers a wide range of classes and other learning opportunities for undergraduate students. Almost all of our classes are taught by permanent faculty members with a strong commitment to students and to enhancing education at UCI.We offer two introductory series—US history and world history—that provide students the opportunity to follow historical patterns across a long time period. The three courses of each series are offered in chronological order, but there is no requirement to take all three, if you are interested in just one time period.
We also offer a range of other introductory courses (those numbered below 100) in specific topics as diverse as religions, sexuality, science, medicine, revolutions, popular protests, and ancient societies. These topical courses introduce students to the practices of history by focusing more narrowly on a particular historical theme, specific issue, or conceptual problem.
Upper division courses (those numbered above 100) offer students the opportunity for specialized study, often in smaller classes.
We encourage majors to fulfill their upper-division writing requirement in their second year—or right away if you’re a transfer student—by a taking course labeled History 100W. These small, skills-focused seminars help develop the analytical and writing strategies needed for success in other upper division courses. They also offer specialized study in a specific topic, such as sexuality, childhood, popular culture, or medieval saints.
Advanced students may further develop their individual research skills and do more independent work in our seminar courses, History 190.
We especially encourage our most dedicated majors, who want the chance to do in-depth research, to take our two-quarter advanced research seminar (History 193). This advanced seminar sequence allows students to pursue their own interests by completing a capstone project. It is highly recommended for students considering any kind of postgraduate study, including advanced degrees in history, public history, law, public policy, and others, because the capstone project may be useful for postgraduate applications.
Students can also pursue individual research with faculty guidance through the University Research Opportunity Program (UROP) and its summer-time form, SURP. Students are selected through campus-wide, competitive applications for funding that can support travel to archives or the purchase of specialized materials necessary for a project.
For students interested in a teaching career, there is a specialized track within the history major that combines history and education classes, preparing students particularly well to enter graduate education or teaching credential programs.
Our new history internship program (History 197) offers students exposure to different kinds of public history. The program places students with a range of employers—including K-12 schools, the Orange County Department of Education, local community groups, and the University’s oral history projects, archives, and special collections. As interns, students obtain hands-on experience using historical research and writing skills in public workplaces, and they develop a better sense of how classroom learning can translate into a wide range of opportunities after graduation.
In addition to all of these classes, our History Club plans informal social events, field trips, and other activities to bring students and faculty together outside of classroom and structured mentoring relationships.
The History Department is a dynamic, engaged community. Check out our course schedule, event’s calendar, and requirements for becoming History Major or Minor. For more specific questions about our program, please email Professor Sarah Farmer (sfarmer@uci.edu), Undergraduate Program Chair or Michelle Spivey (spiveym@uci.edu), the Undergraduate Program Coordinator.