History, B.A. Public History Concentration

The public history concentration at UNC Greensboro prepares students for careers and graduate study in public history or museum studies, including at historic sites, history museums, community organizations, nonprofits, and more. This is an exciting and growing field, and UNCG’s History Department has a nationally recognized public history focus.

Students in the public history concentration examine the power and relevance of history while also learning the hands-on skills of public historians such as oral history, exhibit design, and digital history methods.

This combination of background knowledge and concrete skills gives students an advantage when applying for careers or graduate school.

PROGRAM DISTINCTIONS

• The Department of History at UNCG has an established expertise in public history, with its award-winning master’s program with a concentration in museum studies as well as its public history minor at the Ph.D. level. This new concentration now enables undergraduate students to benefit from the department’s expertise in this arena as well.
• Professors in UNCG’s Department of History regularly win university-wide teaching and mentorship awards for their commitment to student success.
• A hallmark of this program is the opportunity to participate in real-world public history projects and internships. 
• History faculty regularly publish books and articles and win awards for their research.

THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

• Through a sequence of courses, students pursuing the public history concentration will examine how popular conceptions of the past are formed, how public memory shapes individual and collective action, where history can be found in the contemporary landscape, how historic sites are preserved and documented, and how professional public historians work to interpret and share the past with audiences.
• Students learn the hands-on skills of public historians, such as oral history, exhibit design, and digital history methods.
• The requirements for completing a bachelor’s degree with a public history concentration are identical to the existing bachelor’s in history track, with the addition of at least three courses (nine credit hours) in public history courses.
• Engaging internships are available. Past history majors have interned at the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum, Greensboro Historical Museum, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, the High Point Museum, and UNCG’s Special Collections and University Archives. 
• The UNCG History Club is the longest-running student group on campus and regularly engages students in history-related lectures, movies, games, trips, and more. 
• Students can fulfill up to four general education requirements with just history courses.

AFTER GRADUATION

• You will be prepared for careers or graduate study in public history and museum studies.
• You will learn skills such as critical thinking, communications, analytic reasoning, and research that transfer to many different job settings. 
• Potential career paths include:
  • Museum Curation
  • Historical Preservation
  • Local, state, and national government positions
  • Nonprofit and activist work
  • Education
  • Archival Research
  • Law
  • Journalism