Students in the Public History Initiative class
Connecting students with the excitement of historical discovery

Academics

The Department of History is committed to pursuing excellence in historical scholarship and teaching across many different time periods and research interests. Its outstanding faculty specializes in a wide array of historical issues and themes that transcend particular regions and periods. Courses connect undergraduate and graduate students with the excitement of historic discovery and provide a rigorous training in researching and analyzing the human past.

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Undergraduate Program Educational Goals Courses Graduate Program Professional Development History Graduate Field Handbook

Current DUS

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Derek Chang

Associate Professor

Director of Undergraduate Studies

American Studies Program, Asian American Studies Program, Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, History

McGraw Hall in spring

Attention Undergraduates:

Are you interested in becoming a history major? You can apply online, after securing your own major advisor.  For more information: history-major-application-information. Paper Applications are available at 120 Mary Ann Wood Drive.

Important notices:

Codes for pre-1800 and World Areas courses are currently available soon on the Course List ( https://courses.cornell.edu/courses/hist/), and in archival Catalogs. 

  • Pre-1800 is coded as HPE

  • World Areas are coded as HAN, HNA, HEU, HGS, HTR

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Spring Event:

Announcing History’s 2nd Open House/Trivia Night at 120 Mary Ann Wood Drive

                Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026     

       Time: 4:30-6:00

                Location: 120 Mary Ann Wood Drive, Room 125

                Details: Join us for a night of fun trivia, a chance to hear history’s faculty talk about their course offerings, and to find out what CHS is.  Handouts (including course flyers) will be available, faculty will be on hand to answer questions, this will be a great time to meet other majors and minors, snacks, and earn prizes for trivia questions.  Highlights about our first trivia event: https://history.cornell.edu/news/history-department-hosts-lively-open-house-and-trivia-night.

*Please share the details about this event with friends who are interested in History!

 

History News

Maria Cristina Garcia

María Cristina García receives a Lifetime Achievement Award

María Cristina García, professor of history and American studies in Cornell's College of Arts & Sciences, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society. The award recognizes “her service to the Society and her outstanding scholarly contributions to the fields of immigration and ethnic history.”

Person wearing large headphones, speaking into a microphone

Panel explores Indigenous voices in Abiayala/Latin America

Cornell University will host “Indigenous Voices in Abiayala/Latin America,” on April 9 at 4:45 p.m., exploring Indigenous media self-representation in Latin America – known as Abiayala in the Guna language. Held in the in the A.D. White House and organized by Polly Lauer, a Klarman Postdoctoral Fellow in Romance studies in Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences, the panel will feature scholars discussing Mapuche and Maya K’ishe’ cultural production, Indigenous languages and broadcasters’ fight to sustain native-language media such as Guatemala’s oldest Maya radio station.

Students sitting on the grass talking

Admitted Class of 2030 seeks real-world impact

Cornell admits the Class of 2030 emphasizing real-world impact, enrolling 5,776 students from 102 countries.
At Cornell University, the diverse cohort reflects the land-grant mission and applied learning goals across multiple colleges.

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