Students from The New School can study History as a major (BA, History), a minor, or part of a self-designed major (BA or BS, Liberal Arts). A bachelor's-master's degree option is also available.

Join a diverse group of scholars who take an interdisciplinary approach to historical inquiry. As a History major you?ll develop research and critical thinking skills alongside world-renowned faculty from The New School for Social Research (NSSR). And you?ll have opportunities to apply what you learn through hands-on projects and internships with the New-York Historical Society and other New York City-based institutions.

The History major at Lang serves as a bridge between the social sciences and humanities. You?ll begin by addressing E.H. Carr?s deceptively simple question, ?What is history?? Using a variety of research methodologies, you?ll search for the answer by investigating major historical subjects such as the rise of New World slavery, Islamic fundamentalism, the history of epidemics, the Spanish conquest of Mexico and Peru, the Holocaust, or the role of women and gender in early America.

Through your coursework and hands-on projects, you?ll:

• Make connections between the past and the present to better understand contemporary society
• Critically address diversity in world history
• Learn the history of capitalism
• Think contextually about political movements

Advanced students do research projects around overarching themes or a specific set of questions with attention to the methodological and theoretical premises that inform them. All students complete a senior work project, under the direction of a graduate student preceptor and in consultation with a history faculty member.

History majors at Lang benefit from the intimate, seminar-based program of the college and the rich resources of The New School, a progressive urban university. Most faculty members teaching History majors at Lang also teach at The New School for Social Research or in other departments throughout the university. These relationships mean that at Lang the approach to history is truly interdisciplinary, with strong ties to cutting-edge research in the social sciences and humanities.

At Lang, New York City?s rich history is embedded in a rigorous research-based curriculum. Resources include The New-York Historical Society and other history museums, the city?s historic neighborhoods, buildings, monuments, and memorials, and special libraries.

Career Paths

Students majoring in History can go on to graduate school in order to pursue careers in law, politics, economics, design and urban studies, journalism, and international relations. They can also work in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).