history crisis

AHA to address urgent problem of students dropping history after taking an introductory course

The American Historical Association received a $1.65 million grant to study the problem. 

So I Became a Historian—Now I’m Telling How It Worked Out

by Vaughn Davis Bornet

Advice to young people considering history as a major.

Provost at center of the debate over fate of the history major in Wisconsin defends his approach

by Adam Harris

Greg Summers is the historian who may be ending the history major at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

"The Historical Profession is Committing Slow-Motion Suicide"

by Hal Brands and Francis J. Gavin

The discipline mostly has itself to blame for its current woes, say historians Hal Brands and Francis J. Gavin.

Fewer Students Are Majoring in History, But We’re Asking the Wrong Questions About Why

by Jason Steinhauer 

Economics alone doesn’t explain the decline in history majors.

Where are all the history majors?

by Benjamin M. Schmidt

Of all the major disciplines, history has seen the steepest declines in the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded.

Challenges Historians Face in Africa Today: An Interview With Joseph K. Adjaye

by Erik Moshe

"The discipline of history in Africa is facing a crisis in that it is attracting fewer and fewer students."

Must Visiting Assistant Professorships Be Career Purgatory?

Two historians, two stories.

Mea culpa: there IS a crisis in the humanities

by Benjamin Schmidt

University of Washington history professor Benjamin Schmidt says the statistics show he was wrong to minimize the crisis.

One Historian's Helpful Tip on Making History More Attractive to Students

by David Lee McMullen

This fall he'll be offering a course that no one could possible think is dull.

Where Historians Work

The American Historical Association this week launches Where Historians Work an online tool tracking career outcomes for the more than 8,500 historians who earned their Ph.D.s at U.S. institutions between 2004 and 2014.

Conservative Mark Bauerlein says humanities faculty are in denial about their own role in the decline of the humanities

by Mark Bauerlein

"The undergraduate masses want one thing, the elite tells them they’re wrong and deliver another thing."

Number of history majors is up at community colleges

This is happening while the number of history majors at 4 year colleges is in decline.

Where do historians live and work?

The answer is provided in the AHA's “Where Historians Work,” an ambitious research project designed to track the career outcomes of everyone who earned a PhD in history from 2004–13 in the United States.

University of Washington Dean defends the liberal arts degree on economic grounds

by Robert Stacey

Historian Robert Stacey says the belief that history majors are unemployable is plain wrong. 

Many professors in Wisconsin saw their fears of a 2015 change to state tenure law realized last week

Faculty members at Wisconsin Stevens Point react to a plan to cut 13 majors, including English, history, political science and sociology, and expand more job-oriented programs.

These History Ph.D. Programs Pay More Than Lip Service to Alternative Careers

Criticized for producing graduates with few job prospects, doctoral programs are starting to reform.

Is the jobs picture for historians as bad as it seems?

by Dylan Ruediger

The American Historical Association says it's hard to tell and that's a problem. 

What departments of history are doing about lower enrollments

Five historians reflect on the disciplinary, institutional, social and political challenges facing their subject.

Calling Academe's Bluff

Erin Bartram’s “quit lit” essay asks readers to consider what’s lost -- personally but especially in terms of disciplinary knowledge -- with so many scholars leaving a broken system behind.