Global History is the modernized version of the traditional history major and is our most popular and most flexible subplan. The Global History major allows students the opportunity to focus on an area or time period of their preference while still providing a firm foundation in the methods of history and in the history of the world from antiquity to the present. It provides students with the critical thinking skills, the communication abilities, and the historical knowledge that employers desire and that enable citizens to thrive in a participatory democracy. Graduates of our Global History major have gone on to do great things in law, education, business, government, and many more careers.
Global History majors have the option of doing internships in History and history-related fields at UMD itself and for local, state, and international organizations. They are eligible for thousands of dollars in student scholarships to support their studies, and have access to a number of exciting, life-changing opportunities: mentorship from UMD history alumni, fellowship with other History majors in History Club, the financial support to attend and even present their own research at regional History conferences, and the chance to study abroad with History faculty in places like Ireland, Poland, Panama, and Jamaica.
Complete this form to declare a Global History major.
Global History students should also consider adding a minor in African and African American Studies and/or the Museum Studies Certificate.
Global History Major Requirements
The Global History Major subplan is 37 credits and consists of the following components:
- One course in each of our 6 required areas of study: Ancient, Africa, East and Southeast Asia, Europe, West Asia, and the Americas.
- Four elective History courses. Two non-HIST electives from a pre-approved list of History-related courses can be used as electives.
- HIST 4999: Seminar, the capstone course for the History major.
Check out the History Major listing in the UMD Catalog for a full list of the Global History major requirements and elective courses.
Global History and Other Fields of Study
The Global History Major subplan is designed to be paired with another field of study. Students in the subplan are required to have at least a minor, but we strongly encourage our Global History students to add a second major in an area of interest. Likewise, students who already have a primary major but are interested in history may find it beneficial to add a Global History major. The skills and knowledge gained from studying history can be applied in many careers other than history itself, and in many cases offer our graduates an advantage over peers and competitors who have only one major.
Here are some of the fields that our Global History students have double majored in recently:
- Political Science
- International Studies
- American Indian Studies
- Anthropology
- Art History
- Biology
- Economics
- English
- Environment, Sustainability and Geography
- Geographic Information Science
- Marketing
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- French, German, Spanish, or Chinese
- Teaching Social Studies (we now encourage TSS majors to add the History and Social Science major subplan instead)