Choose your path and fuel your curiosity through the undergraduate and graduate programs
Why Study History at UIS?
Small class sizes that offer individualized instruction and close interaction with students and professors
Choice of in-person or online BA program, both with the same quality instruction, taught by the same professors
Access to internationally-renowned historical sites like the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum, the Lincoln Home National Historic Site, the 1908 Springfield Race Riot National Monument, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Dana-Thomas House, among others
A rigorous, wide-ranging curriculum taught by professors who are experts in their fields and award-winning teacher-scholars
An MA program with a high rate of funding that fits your interests and schedule
Internships at libraries, archives, historic sites, and other institutions, particularly in state government
A Note from the Chair
Greetings, from the UIS History Department! On these pages you will find information about our degree programs, our faculty, and news about the department, faculty, students, and alumni. I hope you find all the information useful, but if you would like to know more, please reach out to me at dhunte2@uis.edu or (217) 206-7432.
The History Department offers degree programs on the undergraduate (Bachelor of Arts) and graduate levels (Master of Arts). For the BA, we offer both an online and in-person option. Additionally, you can minor in History, or supplement your History BA with a World History Concentration.
Our faculty are among the most-decorated on campus, boasting several campus-wide teaching and research awards, in addition to national and international recognition. Our research and teaching strengths stretch the globe from Asia to Springfield and all points in-between, and cover ancient times to the present day. We are proud of our small class sizes and high-impact practices such as community engagement, professional development, internships, and study away opportunities.
UIS History undergraduates go into an array of professions, such as teaching, entrepreneurship, state government, graduate school, and law. About 90 percent of our graduate students seeking full financial support achieve it, and we have a 100 percent job placement rate for MA students graduating from the Public History concentration.
As you can tell from this brief introduction, and the pages on this website, we’re proud of our faculty and students, and hope you can join us!
Devin Hunter
Associate Professor and Chair, History Department
University of Illinois Springfield
Mission
The History Department helps students understand themselves and the world in which they live by exploring the links between the past and the contemporary world.
Vision
The Department encourages students to compare elements of their own culture with those of other cultures from other time periods. Students of history gain a sense of what is unique in—as well as generally characteristic of—individuals, groups, and national cultures in the present as well as the past.
About Our Faculty
The UIS History faculty consists of internationally-recognized, award-winning scholars with expertise in East Asia, the Modern Middle East, Late Antiquity, Ancient Greece, Colonial and Nineteenth-Century America, Twentieth-Century America, Public History, Women's and Gender History...and more!
Emeriti Faculty
Robert K. McGregor
Emeritus Professor of History
Larry Shiner
Emeritus Professor
William H. Siles
Emeritus Professor of American History
Emeriti in Memoriam
Cullom Davis
Emeritus Professor of History
- Related Article: "Noted Abraham Lincoln Scholar Has Died"
Deborah Kuhn McGregor
Emerita Associate Professor, History, Women’s Studies, and African-American Studies
Support the History Department
Your gift helps build and sustain resources for the success of History students at UIS, including research funds, class projects and experiential learning opportunities, and professional development.
