About the Program

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

The Department of History offers a program of instruction ranging widely over the historical record of human experience. The chronological, geographical, and topical range affords great flexibility to students working toward degrees in history and to those who wish to give a historical dimension to their studies in other disciplines. History at Berkeley is a highly flexible major that allows students to follow their interests. It is also a major that places strong value on original student research, with all students completing capstone projects on topics they choose in consultation with members of the faculty.

We live in a world shaped by history. We cannot understand the world or hope to improve it without serious attention to the historical process that created it. So welcome to the Department of History at Berkeley: education for the world.

Declaring the Major

Students may declare the major after completing three letter-graded courses in the Department of History with a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) or better. This must include at least two lower division courses.

Honors Program

To graduate with honors in History, a major must achieve a general GPA of 3.5, a departmental GPA of 3.7, and a minimum grade of "A-" in HISTORY 101. To be eligible for graduation with high or highest honors in History, a major must achieve a general GPA of 3.5, a departmental GPA of 3.7, and a grade of "A" in HISTORY 101. The student must also receive a nomination for high or highest honors from the 101 instructor. The decision to award high or highest honors rests with the Honors Committee.

A major who is eligible for honors after completing HISTORY 101 and is interested in continued research may pursue a second thesis project under the rubric HISTORY H195. The second project may substitute for the 101 thesis in determining eligibility for high or highest honors if the student meets the GPA standards and receives a nomination from the H195 instructor.

Minor Program

The Department of History offers a minor in History.

Students are encouraged to meet with the minor adviser to file a "History Minor Application" as soon as they have completed one course towards the minor. In addition to turning in the application, students who have taken their lower division minor course elsewhere should provide an unofficial copy of transcript showing the course that satisfies the minor and the grade received.

All students must submit a completed “History Minor Application” and an L&S “Minor Completion” petition by the minor declaration deadline once they have enrolled in or completed the course that will complete the minor. The deadline is May first for the spring and November first for the fall. The application and completion forms may be submitted simultaneously. 

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Major Requirements

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the following requirements specific to their major program.

General Guidelines

1. All courses taken to fulfill the major requirements below must be taken for graded credit, other than courses listed which are offered on a Pass/No Pass basis only. Other exceptions to this requirement are noted as applicable.
2. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 must be maintained in both upper and lower division courses used to fulfill the major requirements.

For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.

Summary of Major Requirements

 Lower Division Requirements

Upper Division Requirements

Select eight courses, including the following:

Field of Concentration Requirement

The four courses constituting the Field of Concentration must include HISTORY 101; the three additional courses may include HISTORY 103 (Proseminar). They may also include one appropriate upper division course, of at least 3 units, from another department, in consultation with the Undergraduate Adviser.

A Field of Concentration shall be defined by one of the following rubrics: (1) A period; (2) A geographical area; or (3) A thematic approach.

For further information regarding declaring a Field of Concentration and samples of possible fields, please see the Department's website .

Pre-Modern Requirement

At least one course used to fulfill the major requirements must be devoted entirely to pre-modern history, to be selected from courses focused on one or more of the following eras: antiquity, the classical period, and the medieval period. Courses dealing solely with the early modern period do not satisfy this requirement.

Minor Requirements

Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. These programs have set requirements and are noted officially on the transcript in the memoranda section, but they are not noted on diplomas.

General Guidelines

1. The History minor consists of six four-unit courses: one lower division and five upper division, from at least two of the seven historical fields below.
2. All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be taken for a letter grade.
3. All of the upper division courses taken to fulfill the History minor requirements must be completed at UC Berkeley.
4. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.
5. Courses used to fulfill the minor requirements may be applied toward the Seven-Course Breadth requirement, for Letters & Science students.
6. No more than one upper division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student's major and minor programs.
7. All minor requirements must be completed prior to the last day of finals during the semester in which you plan to graduate. If you cannot finish all courses required for the minor by that time, please see a College of Letters & Science adviser.
8. All minor requirements must be completed within the unit ceiling. (For further information regarding the unit ceiling, please see the College Requirements website.)

Requirements

College Requirements

Undergraduate students in the College of Letters & Science must fulfill the following requirements in addition to those required by their major program.

For detailed lists of courses that fulfill college requirements, please see the College of Letters & Sciences  page in this Guide.

Entry Level Writing

All students who will enter the University of California as freshmen must demonstrate their command of the English language by fulfilling the Entry Level Writing requirement. Fulfillment of this requirement is also a prerequisite to enrollment in all reading and composition courses at UC Berkeley. 

American History and American Institutions

The American History and Institutions requirements are based on the principle that a US resident graduated from an American university should have an understanding of the history and governmental institutions of the United States.

American Cultures

American Cultures is the one requirement that all undergraduate students at Cal need to take and pass in order to graduate. The requirement offers an exciting intellectual environment centered on the study of race, ethnicity and culture of the United States. AC courses offer students opportunities to be part of research-led, highly accomplished teaching environments, grappling with the complexity of American Culture.

Quantitative Reasoning

The Quantitative Reasoning requirement is designed to ensure that students graduate with basic understanding and competency in math, statistics, or computer science. The requirement may be satisfied by exam or by taking an approved course.

Foreign Language

The Foreign Language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating proficiency in reading comprehension, writing, and conversation in a foreign language equivalent to the second semester college level, either by passing an exam or by completing approved course work.

Reading and Composition

In order to provide a solid foundation in reading, writing and critical thinking the College requires two semesters of lower division work in composition. Students must complete a first-level reading and composition course by the end of their second semester and a second-level course by the end of their fourth semester.

Breadth Requirements

The undergraduate breadth requirements provide Berkeley students with a rich and varied educational experience outside of their major program. As the foundation of a liberal arts education, breadth courses give students a view into the intellectual life of the University while introducing them to a multitude of perspectives and approaches to research and scholarship. Engaging students in new disciplines and with peers from other majors, the breadth experience strengthens interdisciplinary connections and context that prepares Berkeley graduates to understand and solve the complex issues of their day.

Unit Requirements

• 120 total units, including at least 60 L&S units

• Of the 120 units, 36 must be upper division units

• Of the 36 upper division units, 6 must be taken in courses offered outside your major department

Residence Requirements

For units to be considered in "residence," you must be registered in courses on the Berkeley campus as a student in the College of Letters & Science. Most students automatically fulfill the residence requirement by attending classes here for four years. In general, there is no need to be concerned about this requirement, unless you go abroad for a semester or year or want to take courses at another institution or through University Extension during your senior year. In these cases, you should make an appointment to see an adviser to determine how you can meet the Senior Residence Requirement.

Note: Courses taken through UC Extension do not count toward residence.

Senior Residence Requirement

After you become a senior (with 90 semester units earned toward your BA degree), you must complete at least 24 of the remaining 30 units in residence in at least two semesters. To count as residence, a semester must consist of at least 6 passed units. Intercampus Visitor, EAP, and UC Berkeley-Washington Program (UCDC) units are excluded.

You may use a Berkeley summer session to satisfy one semester of the Senior Residence requirement, provided that you successfully complete 6 units of course work in the Summer Session and that you have been enrolled previously in the college.

Modified Senior Residence Requirement

Participants in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) or the UC Berkeley Washington Program (UCDC) may meet a Modified Senior Residence requirement by completing 24 (excluding EAP) of their final 60 semester units in residence. At least 12 of these 24 units must be completed after you have completed 90 units.

Upper Division Residence Requirement

You must complete in residence a minimum of 18 units of upper division courses (excluding EAP units), 12 of which must satisfy the requirements for your major.

Plan of Study

Students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the History major requirements before making a program plan. For more detailed information regarding the courses listed below (e.g., elective information, GPA requirements, etc.), see the College Requirements and Major Requirements tabs.

Accelerated Program Plans

For students considering graduating in less than four years, it's important to acknowledge the reasons to undertake such a plan of study. While there are advantages to pursuing a three-year degree plan such as reducing financial burdens, they are not for everyone and do involve sacrifices; especially with respect to participating in co-curricular activities, depth of study,  and summer internships, which typically lead to jobs upon graduation. All things considered, please see the tables for three and three and a half year degree options.

3.5 and 3 Year Plans

Student Learning Goals

Mission

The History major helps students learn to think critically and deeply about the historical processes that have shaped the world we live in. History majors are exposed to a temporally and geographically broad range of historical experience, but they are also required to concentrate on a world region or theme or a period in history, both in order to develop depth of understanding and in order to prepare for the capstone of the History Major: an article-length, primary-source based, original research project. The major is designed to develop critical reading, thinking, and writing skills that will be needed to succeed in this capstone course.

Learning Goals for the Major

1. Distinguish and characterize significant periods of historical experience in multiple societies from different parts of the globe.
2. Describe events and developments in the history of multiple societies in terms of continuity, change, and causation.
3. Understand interpretive debates about the past.
4. Appreciate the complexities involved in interpreting societies and social change: for example, the local and the global, particular and general, contingent and structural.
5. Identify different kinds of historical evidence and understand their role in the production of historical knowledge.

Skills

1. Recall factual claims about the past and synthesize them into coherent interpretive arguments.
2. Read documents closely and critically.
3. Formulate a well-organized, well-supported argument.
4. Demonstrate clear writing in the form of essays of varying lengths.
5. Make cogent oral arguments about reading assignments in the context of a seminar discussion.
6. Conduct original research with primary sources.
7. Locate good, relevant secondary scholarship, and distinguish good from poor scholarship.
8. Observe ethical practices of citation and intellectual self-presentation.

Career & Internship Information

Career Services Overview

The UC Berkeley Career Center prepares undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni to make informed decisions about their futures by providing comprehensive resources, programs, and counseling on career development, internships, employment, and graduate school.  Whether it be through a resume critique, an alumni networking event, or an interviewing skills workshop, the Career Center is committed to help all students achieve:

• Career Clarity: providing students the opportunity to identify their career direction.
• Career Competitiveness: providing students the opportunities to enhance their marketability via real world experiences.
• Career Connections: providing students opportunities to engage with alumni and employers.

Common Career Paths for History Majors

Career Destinations Survey

Every year the Career Center surveys graduating seniors about their post-graduation plans to better understand the career outcomes of our alumni including: career fields, job titles, specific employers, entry-level salaries, and graduate/professional school destinations. The data profiles by major provide an impressive overview of the diverse interests and achievements of recent graduates from UC Berkeley, including specific data for the History Department .  Each survey year includes the August, December, and May graduating cohorts for that survey year. This data is designed to provide students, alumni, and employers with critical information about where Cal students go after graduation. As expected, college major does not restrict the employment or graduate school options that Cal students pursue. With careful planning , you can develop career-related skills and experiences that can prepare you for almost any job or graduate school field.

Sample Career Pathways

History majors go on to pursue a wide variety of career options including, but not limited to:

• Local, state and federal government: Public policy, city and regional planning, judicial services, program administration, social services, intelligence, law enforcement, foreign service, research.
• Politics: Elected or appointed leadership, campaign management, staff administration, special interest advocacy, lobbying.
• Law: Prosecution, defense, corporate, public interest, mediation.
• Nonprofit: Administration, management, public relations, fundraising/development, program coordination, grant writing, volunteer management.
• Museums, curatorial and archival management: Acquisition, preservation, exhibition, research.
• Education:
  • Primary and post-secondary: teaching, administration, library services.
  • Higher education: teaching, research, administration, student affairs, admissions, advising, community relations.
• Business:  Sales, management, office administration, human resources, training, public relations, writing/editing.
• Media: Editing, publishing, writing, sales, digital media, public relations, broadcasting.

Visit our Connecting Majors to Careers resource to explore additional career paths most commonly associated with over 80 majors, including History .

Career and Internship Resources

The Career Center offers a wide variety of programs and resources to support students of all majors and class levels.

• Job Search Tools :  Resume and cover letter writing, job search strategies, networking tools, interviewing skills, and more.
• Career Counseling :  A wide variety of scheduled and drop-in appointment options based on major and topic.
• Internships :  Internship listings, search strategies, FAQs, and more.
• Career Exploration : Resources to explore career options, identify career goals, and develop effective career plans.
• Events and Workshops :  Over 70 events each semester including workshops, alumni networking events, career panels, conferences, and on-campus Career Chats.
• Career Fairs and Employer Information Sessions :  We offer 14 career fairs each year across a variety of career fields and partner with numerous employers for on-campus information sessions.
• Graduate and Professional School :  Counseling and resources to help students research and apply for graduate and professional school including medical school and law school .

*The above services are available to all currently enrolled UC Berkeley students and members of the Career Center’s Alumni Advantage program.

Courses

History

Faculty and Instructors

Faculty

Stephan H. Astourian, Associate Adjunct Professor. Armenia, Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Modern Turkey, Diasporas.
Research Profile

Janaki Bakhle, Associate Professor.

Andrew E. Barshay, Professor. Social thought, modernism, social sciences in modern Japan, marxism, Japanese history, Japanese-Russian relations.
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Mary Elizabeth Berry, Professor. Late medieval and early modern Japan.
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Mark Brilliant, Associate Professor. 20th century US history, with a focus on political economy, civil rights, education, law, and the west.
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Cathryn Carson, Associate Professor. History of physics, science and society, history of universities, German history, intellectual history, ethnography, data science, nuclear waste.
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Margaret Chowning, Professor. Mexico, history, gender, women, Latin America.
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John Connelly, Professor.

Alexander C. Cook, Assistant Professor. East Asia: China.
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Thomas Dandelet, Professor. Renaissance Italy and Europe, Spanish Empire, early modern Mediterranean.
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Brian Delay, Associate Professor. US, the Americas, International History, nineteenth century, Native American history, American West, Borderlands.
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Nicholas Dirks, Professor. History and anthropology of South Asia, social and cultural theory, history of imperialism, historiography, cultural studies, globalization.
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Sandra Eder, Assistant Professor. Gender, sexuality, medicine, science, US History 20th century, popular culture.
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Sandra Eder, Assistant Professor. Gender, sexuality, medicine, science, US History 20th century, popular culture.
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John M. Efron, Professor. Cultural and social history of German Jewry.
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Robin L. Einhorn, Professor. Taxation, United States political history, urban history, nineteenth century.
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Susanna Elm, Professor. History of the Later Roman Empire, pagan - Christian interactions, ancient medicine, slavery and the evolution of Christianity, leadership and empire, reception of antiquity.
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Victoria Frede-Montemayor, Associate Professor. Enlightenment, Russian intellectual history, sentimentalism, eighteenth and nineteenth century, anti-religious thought, romanticism, history of friendship.
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David Henkin, Professor. History, US History, urban history, cultural history, History of Time.
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David Henkin, Professor. History, US History, urban history, cultural history, History of Time.
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Rebecca Herman, Assistant Professor.

Carla Hesse, Professor. France, modern Europe, history of women.
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Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, Associate Professor. Modern German and European History, Conceptual History, Transnational History, urban studies.
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Martin E. Jay, Professor. Rhetoric, history, Marxist theory, European intellectual history, 19th 20th century, visual discourse and culture.
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Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, Assistant Professor.
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Abhishek Kaicker, Assistant Professor. South Asia, Mughal, early modern, cities, history, Persian.
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Tabitha Kanogo, Professor. Colonialism, nationalism, women and gender, childhood and youth.
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Kerwin L. Klein, Professor.

Geoffrey Koziol, Professor. Medieval history, History of Medieval Christianity, Medieval Political Institutions.
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Thomas W. Laqueur, Professor. Medicine, religion, body, human rights.
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Emily Mackil, Associate Professor.
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Waldo E. Martin, Professor. African American History ; Modern American Culture.
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Maria Mavroudi, Professor. Byzantine studies.
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Massimo Mazzotti, Associate Professor. History of science, History of Mathematics, social theory, science and society, STS.
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Rebecca Mclennan, Associate Professor. North America: 1763-present, law & society, crime & punishment, prisons, society & culture, capitalism, global foodways.
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Maureen Miller, Professor. Medieval history.
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Carlos F. Norena, Associate Professor. Roman history.
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Michael Nylan, Professor. Gender, history, East Asian studies, early China, the fifth century BC to the fifth century AD, with an emphasis on the sociopolitical context, aesthetic theories and material culture, belief.
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Dylan Penningroth, Professor.

Mark A. Peterson, Professor. US/North America, Atlantic World, early modern history, religion, political economy.
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Christine Philliou, Associate Professor.

Caitlin C. Rosenthal, Assistant Professor. American history, capitalism, economic history, slavery.
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Peter Sahlins, Professor. Early modern France, animal-human relations, immigration, citizenship and nationality in pre-modern Europe.
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Daniel Sargent, Associate Professor. American history, International History, Contemporary History.
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Elena A. Schneider, Assistant Professor. Cuba and the Caribbean; colonial Latin America; The Atlantic World, 1400-1888.

Ethan H. Shagan, Professor. British history, early modern European history, history of religion.
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Jonathan Sheehan, Professor. Religion, Christianity, Europe, secularism, Secularization.
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Andrea A. Sinn, Assistant Adjunct Professor.

Yuri Slezkine, Professor. Russia, Late Modern Europe.
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Nicolas Tackett, Associate Professor. Ethnicity, elites, China, cities, national identity, social networks, medieval history, death ritual, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Liao Dynasty.
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James Vernon, Professor. Britain, its Empire and World, 1750 to present.
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Wen-Hsin Yeh, Professor. History, East Asian studies, Qing and Modern China.
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Peter B. Zinoman, Professor. Vietnam, Vietnam War, Vietnamese literature, Southeast Asian history, communism, nationalism, colonialism.
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Lecturers

Rodolfo J. Alaniz, Lecturer.

David S. Boyk, Lecturer.

Robert N. Chester, Lecturer.

Michael Dean, Lecturer.

Nils Gilman, Lecturer.

Robert L. Harkins, Lecturer.

Tyler C. Lange, Lecturer.

Andrej Milivojevic, Lecturer.

Sarah Selvidge, Lecturer.

Christopher W. Shaw, Lecturer.

Lynsay Skiba, Lecturer.

Stacey Van Vleet, Lecturer.

David Wetzel, Lecturer.

Gene Zubovich, Lecturer.

Visiting Faculty

Yuval Ben-Bassat, Visiting Professor.

Emeritus Faculty

Richard M. Abrams, Professor Emeritus. Politics, recent US history: business foreign relations, etc.
Research Profile

Anthony Adamthwaite, Professor Emeritus.

Margaret Lavinia Anderson, Professor Emeritus. Germany 1860-1945, Kulturkampf, the Center Party (Zentrum), 19th century European Catholicism, the 19th century European Religious Revival, Democratisation more generally and comparatively, comparative elections and electoral politics, European (and esp. German) Relations with the late Ottoman Empire, Armenian Genocide.
Research Profile

Robert M. Berdahl, Professor Emeritus.

Thomas A. Brady, Professor Emeritus.

Gene A. Brucker, Professor Emeritus.

Richard Candida Smith, Professor Emeritus. Identity, memory, narrative, 19th and 20th century US cultural and intellectual history, cultural interaction and exchange with France and Latin America, oral history and personal testimony as historical sources.
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Diane Shaver Clemens, Professor Emeritus.

Jan De Vries, Professor Emeritus. Economics, demography, history.
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Paula S. Fass, Professor Emeritus. History of childhood, social and cultural history of the United States, immigration and ethnicity, history of education, child abduction.
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Erich S. Gruen, Professor Emeritus. Classics, Greek and Roman history, Jews in the Greco-Roman world.
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Samuel Haber, Professor Emeritus.

John L. Heilbron, Professor Emeritus. History of the physical sciences, biography.
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Richard Herr, Professor Emeritus.

David Hollinger, Professor Emeritus. US history.
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Eugene F. Irschick, Professor Emeritus.

David G. Johnson, Professor Emeritus. History, East Asian studies, city-god cults of T'ang and Sung China, ritual and sculpture in Chinese religion.
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David N. Keightley, Professor Emeritus. History, East Asian studies, origins of Chinese civilization in the Neolithic and early Bronze Ages, the formation of political and religious culture especially ancestor worship and divination, and the development of bureauracy.
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Raymond K. Kent, Professor Emeritus.

Ira M. Lapidus, Professor Emeritus.

John Lesch, Professor Emeritus.

Linda Lewin, Professor Emeritus. Race, social history of 19th & 20th century Brazil--family & kinship; illegitimacy & inheritance rights; banditry (emergence of cangaco); slavery, & color; oral poetic tradition in NE region (repentistas, desafio); cotton production in 19th-century NE Brazil.
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Leon F. Litwack, Professor Emeritus.

Thomas R. Metcalf, Professor Emeritus.

Robert L. Middlekauff, Professor Emeritus.

Sheldon Rothblatt, Professor Emeritus.

Mary P. Ryan, Professor Emeritus.

Irwin Scheiner, Professor Emeritus.

Charles G. Sellers, Professor Emeritus.

John M. Smith, Professor Emeritus.

Randolph R. Starn, Professor Emeritus.

William B. Taylor, Professor Emeritus.