The History Department at Eastern Illinois University strives for inclusive excellence in our teaching, research, and community engagement.

We particularly seek to inspire students to appreciate the depth, diversity, and complexity of human history. Through our course offerings in world and US history, students develop historical empathy and understanding of the varieties of human experience. By exploring the past within and outside the classroom, our students develop research and analytical skills with which to evaluate others’ interpretations of the past and to develop their own. Students learn to put their historical thinking, writing, and transferable skills to work in to work in classrooms, museums, libraries, and other settings from the courtroom to the corporate world.