Building on more than a century of distinguished scholarship and teaching, UW–Madison’s Department of History is one of the world’s great places to study the past. The legacy of trailblazing teachers and scholars like George Mosse, Harvey Goldberg, and Gerda Lerner inspires new generations to work to discover novel ways of understanding the world. Today, we are home to hundreds of undergraduate history majors along with a vibrant community of graduate students in both history and the history of science, medicine, and technology. The research and writing skills that our students learn prepare them for a wide variety of careers — from farming to business to government — while also giving them perspective on the past and new ideas for the future. Our faculty members and graduate students win numerous research and teaching awards nationally and internationally every year. Books written by our faculty and graduates enrich lives and the public conversation, showing how understanding the human experience across time matters for today. Our continued excellence as a world-class history department depends on your generosity.
In 2023, the History Department has continued to offer students exciting opportunities to engage with History. History major Chloe Foor described this year’s Undergraduate Historical Research Symposium as a place where “undergraduate students the unique opportunity to showcase their own original research…we had 19 presenters, and you could see how each one lit up when presenting their work.”
Your support helps us provide these kinds of experiences to new students each year, adding new chapters to our own history.