The most important questions in a history classroom at Seattle University are “how” and “why.” Equipped with these two questions, our students analyze the past to understand the present. Our courses give students the theoretical, methodological, and research skills necessary to seek answers to the questions that matter today. We help students develop nuanced responses that are attuned to the intersections of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religious affiliation, time period, and geographic location. The department’s emphasis on historiography—studying the existing histories of a subject—is especially unique in undergraduate curricula. We teach students how to analyze a range of primary sources—myths, archeology, architecture, novels, poetry, paintings, photographs, diary entries, census data, treaties, and cartoons—for audience, message, and bias. Studying history prepares students to navigate a complex world.
Award-winning faculty teach courses in medieval and modern European, ancient Mediterranean, and U.S., Asian, Latin American, Caribbean, African, and Middle Eastern history. Women and gender history, global history, and the history of the African diaspora are some of the departmental strengths. Members of the department have been awarded Fulbright scholarships and other prestigious fellowships to support their research, and they bring this research acumen to the research seminars and independent studies they direct.
Donations to the History Department fund will be used to help students achieve academic excellence, such as providing students with small grants to cover some expenses they might have when completing projects and research or attending conferences to present their work.
