Program Overview

It’s one of the central questions posed by history majors at The University of Toledo.

Undergraduates explore history in all its dimensions — from family, institutional, political and social history to world and American history. Students in the UToledo Department of History dive deeply into cultures (their own and others), time periods and places around the globe.

They learn to frame critical questions, seek evidence, evaluate conflicting accounts and synthesize information. History majors learn to place facts (the who, what, where and when) into the broader frameworks that make up our human community. They interpret and create a context for understanding historical events.

Students also examine public history — why we commemorate events and people of the past, and how we commemorate them.

Highlights

• One-on-one relationships with faculty. Our professors advise and mentor history majors. They regularly hold meetings and socially engage with students through our organizations and events.
• Dynamic classroom experiences. Faculty don’t just lecture. They encourage lively discussion of complex, societal problems, and help students find their voices as history researchers.
• Internships. History undergraduates get firsthand experience at local, historical institutions,  such as:
  • Fort Meigs, a War of 1812 battlefield
  • The Canaday Center, a University of Toledo archive
  • Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums
  • Maumee Valley Historical Society/Wolcott House Complex
  • River Raisin National Battlefield Park
  • Toledo Police Museum
  • U.S. Brig Niagara History Under Sail program
  • The Washington Center/Catholic Charities of Alexandria Migration and Refugee Services
  • Charles Wright Museum of African American History
  • Hancock Historical Museum
• Project-based public history courses. UToledo students study places of historical significance and partner with sponsoring agencies. In the past, teams have created historical walking tours of UToledo’s University Hall and a Toledo cemetery.
• Flexibility. Focus on a multitude of topics, from American and European history to Latin American or Asian history. Our history department has concentrations in areas including:
  • Women and gender studies
  • Atlantic history
  • History of business and technology
  • History of Islam, Christianity and early monotheistic religious movements