• Are you wondering what you can do with a History MA?

    To see what our MA graduates have accomplished after graduation,  read on:

  • Franco Paz, a graduate of our MA program and currently a Ph.D. candidate and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University, recently inked his first book contract with  Portfolio, an imprint of Penguin.  The book, Ends of the Earth, is described by the press as: “an exploration of global supply chains and what they reveal to us about the relationship between capitalism and slavery, forcing readers to reckon with what it means to live, work, and consume in the 21st century.”   The book will be submitted to the press early 2025.

  • Congratulations to Pamela Walker, Assistant Professor of African American History, whose recently published article won the won the Letitia Woods Brown Best Article Prize from the Association of Black Women Historians. The article, entitled “Some Time We Have Trouble Getting Food and Everything Else Here: Black Women, Freedom Food and the US Postal System,” was published in Gender and History (August 2022). The press release from the Association of Black Women Historians noted that: “Walker convincingly and powerfully sheds light on the ways that the U.S. postal service became ‘a battleground for food and freedom for ordinary rural Black women.’" We encourage everyone to check the article out.

  • New Book Traces Male Beauty

    We are excited to announce that Professor Deslandes, now an Associate Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious Morris D. Forkosch Award by the American Historical Association for his book, The Culture of Male Beauty in Britain: From the First Photographs to David Beckham. This award, one of the most important in the field of British history, recognizes the best book written in English on the history of Britain, the British Empire, or the British Commonwealth since 1485. Read the full story.

     

  • presentation in progress

    On October 5, 2022 UVM’s Department of History co-sponsored a talk by Jacques Dalarun and Sean Field presenting their new book, A Female Apostle in Medieval Italy:  The Life of Clare of Rimini (University of Pennsylvania Press, co-authored with Valerio Cappozzo).  The photograph shows Jacques Dalarun at left, Valerio Cappozzo on the powerpoint slide, and Sean Field on the right.  Read more about the standing room only event.

  • panoramic view of campus buildings with the history department front and center

    Welcome Back!

    We look forward to meeting all of our new students!

  • Paul Deslandes standing outdoors in front of the History department building

    Congratulations to our graduates!

     Read on for the  message from the Chair to our Graduates

  • Histories of the Present: The David Haber and Robin Edelman Annual Lecture

    Professor Saul Cornell gave his lecture, titled Race, Regulation, and Guns: The Latest Battleground in the Debate Over the Second Amendment, on Monday, October 11. Read More.

  • Drone shot of Wheeler house and main campus

    Congratulations to our Graduates!

    Visit our celebration page for a message from the chair and others.

  • Munich circa 1920

    Enemy of the People

    Munich circa 1920. In "Enemy of the People: The Munich Post and the Journalists Who Opposed Hitler," journalist Terrence Petty ’74 takes a closer look at the years that preceded the Third Reich. “As a journalist, I was trying to understand how different the news media landscape was in the 1920s and 1930s,” Petty says. “And I wanted to understand how a democracy failed.” (Photo: Kohl-Illustration/Alamy Stock Photo) Journalists write “the first rough draft of history,” says a well-worn truth. Reporting and rapping out some of those first drafts was the day-to-day for alumnus Terrence Petty, Class of 1974, as an Associated Press correspondent based in Germany during the dramatic political shifts of the late 1980s. From the fall of the Berlin Wall to democratic revolutions in Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Petty says there was a distinct adrenaline rush to covering the breaking news in that time and place." In his recent book, journalist Terrence Petty ’74 takes a closer look at the years that preceded the Third Reich. “I was trying to understand how different the news media landscape was in the 1920s and 1930s, and . . . understand how a democracy failed,” Petty says. Read More.

  • Buchanan collage

    WORLD WAR II RECONSIDERED

    Andrew Buchanan’s new book World War II in Global Perspective, 1931-1953: A Short History invites us to view the war in a broader context than the 1939-1945 period usually recognized as the chronological boundaries of the conflict.

  • Sarah Osten

    BEARING WITNESS 

    Associate Professor of History Sarah Osten spent a week in Texas volunteering as a translator for newly arrived families in the U.S. A Latin American scholar, she developed a whole new perspective on the challenges faced by immigrants seeking asylum.

  • Manuscript

    Discovery Alters Views on Life of St. Francis of Assisi

    The race to share a medieval manuscript's secrets with the world.

  • Cree Country

UVM history students develop flexible minds and sophisticated world views.

The word "history," Greek in origin, means "learning through inquiry," and that is precisely what our professors of history and their students do. At UVM the study of history is much more than memorizing dates, names, battles and treaties. Together, students and faculty discover and interpret the past by asking questions and conducting research. In the process, students become prepared to meet the challenges of a constantly changing and increasingly complex world. Learn about studying history at UVM.

A community of scholars and teachers

Virtually every faculty member in our department has won or been nominated for one of the university's awards for excellence in teaching. We’re equally proud of the fact that we are a community of scholars involved in the active pursuit of historical understanding. Every member of the history faculty is a published author—as scholar-teachers we are committed to sharing our love of history and our search for historical insight with you.

Meet our professors

Students of distinction

Not all students who enroll in our classes are history majors—and many who are history majors don’t plan on teaching history or becoming professional historians. What all of our students share is a passion for history and a desire to use its study as a means of deepening their insight into the human condition, sharpening their analytical skills, and improving their ability to express their insights clearly. They have chosen history as their main avenue toward a well-rounded education.

B.A. in history

Ready for any career

Two UVM graduates from the department of history have won Pulitzer Prizes, one for journalism, the other for literature. The study of history prepares a student for the dynamics of business, law, government, or nonprofit careers. Historical knowledge provides details of past experience with which to test the feasibility of new solutions. It supports critical thinking, analysis, and clear communication—critical skills in any field.

Internships

Career information