The Department of History offers programs of study leading to the B.A. degree, and the B.A. degree with honors. The department also offers a minor in history. Non-majors are welcome in all history courses, except where restrictions are noted, and often become enthusiastic, successful students of history while pursuing other interests.

The history concentration is valuable not only for those considering the historian’s vocation, but also for those pursuing careers in law, business, museums and archives, civil service, research and intelligence analysis, journalism, politics, and secondary school teaching.

The department also offers 17 clusters for non-majors that fulfill the social science divisional requirement in the Rochester Curriculum. These clusters consist of carefully selected sets of courses, and include both geographical (e.g., American history) and topical (e.g., War and Revolution) groupings.

Each student concentrating in history will select a faculty adviser, based on a student's particular interests in history and in consultation with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

The adviser will help majors plan their programs. In addition, advisers can provide information on courses, on making changes to a major program, on special research and internship opportunities. See also the Honors Program and Internships and Careers links.