Welcome to History

Looking forward to the past since 1894

Office Hours: M - F, 8:00 AM - 12:00 and 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Letter from the Chair

Welcome to the History Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The summer of 2012 was hot and dry in east central Illinois, but the miserable weather has not dampened the spirits of our faculty, undergraduates, and graduate students, who continue to pursue excellence in their research, writing, and learning. We look forward to the new academic year with a great sense of excitement and anticipation, mobilized by our common goal of making sense of the past, in all its many forms and with all its pleasures and challenges. Our web site offers access to our week-to-week events, activities, and accomplishments, as well as a guide to the department’s vibrant undergraduate and graduate programs. Please note the ongoing events of “World Histories from Below,” our three-year exploration that brings together faculty and graduate students around a common theme. We also invite you to connect with the department through our Facebook page: , sponsored by the Friends of History, whose goal is to support the department and its activities. You can become a member of the Friends of History by making a contribution to the department: to learn more, just follow the link on this page. Whether you are a prospective or current history major, graduate student, faculty member, alumnus or alumnae, you will find a wealth of useful information in these pages. Come in and look around!

Diane P. Koenker
Professor and Chair

News & Announcements

Kudos to grad student Derek Attig whose research is quoted in a NY Times Sunday Book Review section in an article on prisoner library at Guantanamo Bay. Read the article here.

Hearty Congratulations are due to several of our current graduate students and a recent Ph.D. for their accomplishments:

Diana Georgescu has been awarded a Mellon-Council of European Studies Dissertation Completion Fellowship for 2013-14.

Rachel Koroloff has been named a Junior Fellow for 2013-14 at the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection.

Troy Smith, Ph.D. 2012, has accepted a tenure-track assistant professor position in US History at Tennessee Tech University.

Fred Hoxie has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Historians Among Us Lecture
Jonathan Ebel, Dept. of Religion
"This is my body: Soldering, Salvation, and American Civil Religion."
April 17, 2013 - 3:30pm, 307 Greg Hall

More from our sports historian and film commentator, Adrian Burgos...

Interview he did with Jeff Bossert was excerpted as part of their 12 O’clock newscast http://will.illinois.edu/news/audioplayer_newscast

And was also featured in the Afternoon Magazine (April 15), http://www.will.illinois.edu/news/story/ui-prof-42-brings-accurate-story-of-racist-abuse-within-baseball

View the news archive