With thirty faculty members and more than 600 full-time undergraduate and graduate students, the Illinois State History department is one of the largest in the state. We offer over 100 undergraduate and graduate courses, which range in time from ancient history to the present, in area from North America and Europe to Africa, the Middle East, East Asia, and Latin America, and in scope from politics, economics and religion to diplomatic, intellectual, and military history. Strengths of the department in teaching and research include social history, history education, and urban history.
Although our program is a large one, the department prides itself on providing students with personalized, rigorous education, both at undergraduate and graduate levels. The majority of classes have thirty or fewer students in them. Almost all classes, including introductory ones, are taught by full-time faculty. In evaluations of teaching by students and alumni, History professors consistently rank among the highest of the sixteen departments in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The department also excels in scholarship. Its faculty has published many books, including a number of prize winners, and dozens of articles in learned journals. Their publications have been awarded a number of prizes by professional bodies.
