Welcome to the History Department
Why Study History at UW-Parkside
Despite the conventional wisdom that being a history major doesn’t prepare you for the “real world,” the fact of the matter is that a strong background in history enables you to be and do just about anything and everything. Almost every survey of leaders in government, the professions, and business reveals that a disproportionately large number of them majored or minored in history as undergraduates. No one can possibly hope to understand the present without a clear sense of how it emerged out of the past.
The History Department at UW-Parkside is especially well qualified and highly motivated; its faculty members have a well-deserved reputation for excellence among students, faculty, and professional peers. Collectively, they have published about two dozen books on topics including the adoption of the federal income tax, Latin American labor organizations, Austrian women during the Nazi era, and pollution on the Great Lakes – as well as hundreds of articles and reviews in scholarly journals and reference works. They are true teacher-scholars! In addition, faculty members have been awarded six teaching excellence awards, three awards for excellence in research and creative activity, and three more for outstanding service to the campus and the community. The prestigious Council for the Advancement and Support of Higher Education of the Carnegie Endowment named one of the department’s members Wisconsin Professor of the Year. Three faculty members have been inducted into the Southeastern Wisconsin Educators Hall of Fame.
But the real success of any university department is measured primarily by the accomplishments of its students. A significant number of our history majors have gone on to graduate and professional schools at such institutions as UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, Marquette University, the University of Texas, American University, and Northwestern University. They are now pursuing fulfilling careers as attorneys, teachers, civil servants, and college professors. While here at UW-Parkside, a substantial number of students have gained valuable “real world” experience as interns at the Kenosha History Center, the Racine Heritage Museum, the Kenosha Public Museum, Old World Wisconsin, Family Services, the Literacy Council, and the State Historical Society’s Area Research Center on our campus.
The UW-Parkside History Department sponsors an active history club, which presents lectures and discussions, organizes field trips to local and regional sites of historical interest, and hosts a chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Students also help to publish an alumni newsletter, assist with the planning and operation of such successful annual events as the Model Organization of American States and the Constitution Bowl, and aid in the preparation of the biennial alumni dinner that brings together present and former students and faculty members.
