History covers the full range of human experience: the arts and sciences, politics and the spread of political ideas, economic and technological change, and the development of communities and cultures. Our dedicated faculty members guide students through the fields and methodologies used by historians. The undergraduate program features seminars, discussion groups, and other forms of interactive learning. The two-semester Major Seminar class provides a capstone experience for all majors that culminates in the preparation of an original research paper.

Masters and doctoral students may select programs in United States or modern European history. The Master of Arts program in history stresses research, writing, and historical analysis. Students may apply their historical knowledge and skills in education, museum work, documentary films, journalism, and other careers that involve research and analysis. Through our doctoral program, we foster rigorous scholarship and prepare graduates for careers in education, research, business, journalism, and other professions where the advanced skills of a historian are essential.

American University offers students the opportunity to study public history in a place where people make history. Our public history program teaches students how to make history come alive outside the classroom and guides students to careers in museums, government, business, and non-profit groups. Students may take a two-field Master's Degree in Public History or take a field in Public History as part of doctoral requirements.

Recent books published by our faculty include Richard Breitman, Official Secrets: What the Nazis Planned, What the British and Americans Knew; Alan Kraut, Silent Travelers: Germs, Genes, and the "Immigrant Menace; Allan J. Lichtman, The Keys to the White House; and Pamela Nadell, Women Who Would Be Rabbis: A History of Women's Ordination, 1889-1985.

The Department of History offers such innovative courses as Oliver Stone's America, Cinema and History, Human Rights as History, Latin American Feminism, Politics of Gender in Early Modern Europe and America, and America's Presidential Elections. During the summer, students may participate in institutes on Nuclear Studies, The Civil War, and The Ethnic Experience in the City.

For all students interested in research, the National Archives, Library of Congress, and other facilities in the Washington, D.C., area provide the richest base of archival sources and published works in the United States.

Photo: Christian Fleetwood, one of fourteen African-American soldiers who won the Congressional Medal of Honor for meritorious service during the Civil War.