The bachelor of arts (BA) program for history majors is structured so that while you are required to receive a broad education in various fields of historical inquiry, you have the freedom to design a program particularly suited to your own interests, provided you choose your classes wisely.  At the lower-division level, you are required to take one introductory course on the history of the United States, on the history of Europe, on the history of another area of the world outside of the U.S. or Europe, and on global history.  At the upper-division level you have greater flexibility because you take more courses, but you also have to take one class on U.S. history, on European history, on the history of another area of the world outside of the U.S. or Europe, or on comparative or global history.  In addition, when choosing courses to fulfill your major requirements, you need to make sure that you take at least two pre-modern history courses and two modern history courses.

While you are required to acquire both geographical and chronological breadth in your major, the requirements are flexible enough that you can concentrate your studies in a specific geographic area (for example Britain, China, Latin America, or the U.S.) or a historical period (for example the Ancient world, the Medieval period, or the twentieth century) or on a single theme (for example intellectual history, the history of revolution, the history of women, imperialism and colonialism, the history of Islam, or Jewish history). Within these areas, you are free to plan your program around a diverse set of rotating course offerings.

An objective of the program is to provide as broad a base as possible for the curriculum. The following historical areas are among those represented: ancient and medieval history; early modern & modern European history; European national histories (Britain, France, Germany, Russia); the history of world areas (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia & East Asia); American history considered both by periods and by topics (such as diplomatic, social, African-American); Western U.S. history; women’s history; global history, and different historical methodologies.