The History Program provides majors with a solid liberal arts education. In the department, a wide range of courses focusing on a variety of world regions, time periods, and topic areas are offered. While receiving broad training in several regions and periods, a History major has the opportunity to develop excellent research skills to use in writing papers, examining social issues, and solving historical problems. Opportunities are available for students to further their interest in history. Majors may qualify for membership in Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honorary. The Department of History now offers a History honors thesis option for qualified History majors. Majors in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences Biochemistry B Biology B, M, D Chemistry B, M, D Communications Studies B, M, D Computer Science B Creative Writing M Criminology & Investigations B Economics B English B, M, D Environmental Geoscience B Foreign Languages B, M Forensic & Investigative Science B Geography B, M, D Geology B, M, D History B, M, D Individualized Major B Industrial Mathematics and Statistics B International Studies B Legal Studies M Liberal Arts and Sciences B Liberal Studies M Mathematics B, M, D Multidisciplinary Studies B Philosophy B Physics B, M, D Political Science B, M, D Professional Writing and Editing M Psychology B, M, D Public Administration M Regents Bachelor of Arts B Religious Studies B Slavic Studies B Social Work B, M Sociology M Sociology and Anthropology B Statistics M Women's Studies B B=Bachelor's; M=Master's; D=Doctorate For more information, contact Dr. William Arnett at 304-293-2421 or: William.Arnett@mail.wvu.edu or visit us on-line at: www.as.wvu.edu/history

The WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
The Eberly College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most diverse academic unit within West Virginia University. A faculty of 450 and a staff of 125 are involved in educating and supporting the efforts of more than 6,700 students (nearly one-fourth of the WVU student body) who are majoring in one or more of 63 undergraduate and graduate programs offered by the College’s 16 academic departments and divisions. The College’s academic units and research facilities are housed in 14 buildings on the WVU campus. The Dean’s Office is in historic Woodburn Hall. The College and its Department of Biology also maintain the Core Arboretum, a 75-acre wooded tract adjacent to the Monongahela River.

The College provides the majority of the curriculum for all WVU undergraduates and a wide variety of required and elective courses for the entire student body. Arts and Sciences majors may, with permission, major in more than one discipline, and when appropriate, design highly individualized degree programs.

Eberly College undergraduate degree programs prepare students for many specific professions, while also providing a broad-based education that will remain relevant beyond the first job after graduation. Many Eberly College alumni go on to complete graduate and professional degrees. By providing students with analytic and communication skills, reasoning abilities, and a broad knowledge of the humanities and the behavioral and natural sciences, the Eberly College equips graduates for lifelong learning and prepares them to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world and an increasingly volatile job market.

Admission
If University admission requirements are met, a student may be accepted as a Pre-History major. Upon completion of 58 credit hours with at least a 2.2 cumulative grade point average, a student may apply for admission to the History Program. Majors also should have attained at least a 2.2 GPA in history courses. No grade in a history course lower than a C counts toward the History major. First-year Pre-History majors are required to enroll in History 199, Orientation for Pre-History Majors.

Curriculum
During the first two years as a Pre-History major, a student begins with basic history courses. These classes may include surveys of American history and Western civilization and other surveys.

Upon completion of this course work, a History major enrolls in more advanced courses in American, Latin American, Asian, African, or European history. Additionally, special themes are studied without reference to a location: women, science and technology, and military history are offered.

A total of 33 credit hours in History, including twelve hours of lower division introductory courses, are required. Moreover, 21 of these credit hours must be upper-division classes, and all majors must complete an introduction to research course (History 494A). The Department of History requires majors to take two 400-level history courses before or during the time they are taking History 494A. Upper-level course work should be divided among American and international fields and/or the history of science and technology, with at least one course from African, Asian, or Latin American history.

While working toward a bachelor of arts with a major in History, all majors also must complete a formal minor in a related subject. At least nine credit hours in the minor field of study must be upper-division courses.

Course Work

Accreditation
West Virginia University is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Career Opportunities
About 20,000 people are full-time historians in colleges and universities. Most historians work in colleges and universities where they teach, write, and do research. Historians also work in archives, libraries, museums, historical societies, historic preservation societies, publishing houses, large corporations, and state and local governments. The federal government employs historians in the National Archives, Smithsonian Institution, and the US Departments of Defense, the Interior, and State. Other historians work in politics, journalism, business, and nonprofit management.

Graduate School Opportunities
Graduates may use their degrees as a foundation for further studies in law, business administration, journalism, or other disciplines. Historians with a master’s degree may find positions as curators or archivists in museums, special collection and research centers, administrative positions in nonprofit organizations, or teaching jobs in community colleges or high schools. There are currently more PhD holders than openings in some history fields. WVU offers master’s and doctoral degrees in History.

Salary Range
The pay for historians varies with experience and education. Starting salaries for historians in large colleges and universities range from $30,000 to $50,000 a year. Full professors in large universities may make up to $110,000 a year. Many supplement their teaching salaries with earnings from published works and research and travel grants. The beginning pay for historians working for the federal government is about $25,750 a year. The average salary for historians working for the federal government is about $50,000 a year.