2024-2025

History, Bachelor of Arts

Department of History

College of Arts and Letters

“Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself,” said writer Julio Cortázar. This bachelor's degree provides students with perspectives from which to agree or disagree with this observation. The program offers flexibility for students to customize their program of study based on the period or type of history in which they are interested. A language requirement enhances and expands upon the core curriculum.

  • To receive a bachelor's degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete at least 120 units of credit that minimally includes a major, the liberal studies requirements, and university requirements as listed below.

    • All of Northern Arizona University's diversity, liberal studies, junior-level writing, and capstone requirements.
    • All requirements for your specific academic plan(s).
    • At least 30 units of upper-division courses, which may include transfer work.
    • At least 30 units of coursework taken through Northern Arizona University, of which at least 18 must be upper-division courses (300-level or above). This requirement is not met by credit-by-exam, retro-credits, transfer coursework, etc.
    • A cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 on all work attempted at Northern Arizona University.

    The full policy can be viewed here.

In addition to University Requirements:

  • At least 39 units of major requirements
  • At least 16 units of language requirements

  • Up to 9 units of major prefix courses may be used to satisfy Liberal Studies requirements; these same courses may also be used to satisfy major requirements.

  • Elective courses, if needed, to reach an overall total of at least 120 units.

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

Minimum Units for Completion 120
Major GPA 2.5
Highest Mathematics Required MAT 114
Foreign Language Required
Fieldwork Experience/Internship Optional
Study Abroad Recommended
University Honors Program Optional
Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate Plan Optional
AZ Transfer Students complete AGEC-A Recommended
Progression Plan Link View Progression Plan

Purpose Statement

A Bachelor of Arts in History provides students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed in civic life, in a variety of careers, and in post-graduate study. Our program equips students with historical knowledge and skills by exposing them to a variety of narratives, perspectives, and methods, and by guiding their exploration of diverse local, regional, and global societies.  Through their study of past societies, students develop the ability to engage in honest debate on past and current events as members of engaged, critical, and dynamic communities. Historical perspective and thinking are essential components of responsible and informed citizenship and provide significant advantages to students in a multicultural world and workplace. Our graduates attain writing, research, and critical and analytical thinking skills for history professions and a wide variety of careers in management, law, and education, among other fields.

Our curriculum trains students to find, evaluate, and employ primary and secondary sources as evidence to frame and answer questions through analysis, interpretation, and critical engagement. Students therefore learn to reach sound judgments and construct persuasive arguments through research rather than by relying on hearsay or presumptions. Students further develop an appreciation for the diversity of the human experience and consciousness of how local and global histories inform one another in both past and present, and how historical research can transform those relations. This perspective is complemented by language training that provides students the linguistic abilities and socio-cultural understanding needed to successfully research and interact with communities different from their own.

Student Learning Outcomes

Historians portray the past with all its complexity, illuminating the tensions and synergies between human agency and larger historical and environmental forces in order to inform honest debate on past and current events by engaged, critical, and dynamic communities.

The Tools of a Historian’s Discipline

  • Doing History – finding, evaluating, and using primary and secondary sources.
    • Interpret and extract meaning from a variety of primary sources.
    • Gain knowledge literacy and research skills to locate, uncover, evaluate, and use evidence for the purpose of the historian.
    • Recognize the underlying assumptions, methodologies, and theories in other historians’ work to critique and build on this work with their own research.
    • Historicize assumptions of factual authenticity or universal truth by showing them to be historical, social, and cultural constructs.
    • Apply theory and evaluate scholarship to frame historical questions.
    • Recognize how historians position themselves in the historiographies related to their topic.
  • Producing History – communicating historical analyses, interpretations, and narratives.
    • Articulate historical findings and interpretations through writing and oral expression.
    • Contextualize those findings using additional sources and evidence from the time period.
    • Produce and/or deconstruct historical narratives organized around patterns and themes of causality, chronologies, and paradigms identified by professional historians.
    • Position their research in pertinent historiographies.
    • Address conflicting evidence, alternative perspectives, and multiple viewpoints.
    • Comply with the professional conventions of the historical discipline by using and citing primary source evidence and the work of other scholars.
    • Acknowledge subjective and societal concerns that inform their own descriptions and evaluations of the past.
  • Local/Global Connections
    • Develop historical consciousness of how local and global histories inform one another.
    • Recognize the diversity of human experience as seen in the interconnections and relationships among individuals, communities, social groups, cultures, nations, humans and environments.
    • Explore the connections between power and knowledge in order to understand how scholarship can transform those relations.
    • Use local histories to challenge “universals” even as global narratives challenge parochialisms.
  • Foreign Language (BA)
    • Acquire proficiency in at least one language other than English in order to engage original sources, facilitate interaction and communication with diverse communities and pursue graduate research in history.

Major Requirements

  • This major requires 55 units distributed as follows:

    • History – Introductory Surveys: 12 units
    • Remaining History Course Selections: 27 units
    • Foreign Language: 16 units


    HIS 300W, HIS 498C and at least 18 additional units must be taken at NAU including at least 6 units at the 300-level and at least 6 units at the 400-level.

    Take the following 55 units with a combined minimum GPA of 2.5:

    • *You may take HIS 100 and HIS 102 to fulfill either the Set One or the Set Two History Introductory Survey requirement in this major, but you cannot use this set of courses to fulfill both requirements.

  • History Course Selections (27 units)
    These 27 units must be completed with a Grade of "C" or better in each course.

    • Select one course from the following (3 units):
    • Additional 300-level HIS courses (9 units)
      • No more than 6 units of 300-level study abroad coursework may be used.
    • Additional 400-level HIS courses excluding HIS 407, HIS 429, HIS 430 and HIS 466 (9 units)
      • No more than 3 units of 400-level study abroad coursework may be used.
      • No more than three units of individualized study coursework, (HIS 408, HIS 485, HIS 497), may be used.
    • HIS 300W which meets the junior-level writing requirement. (3 units)
    • HIS 498C which meets the senior capstone requirement. (3 units)
Foreign Language Requirement

  • You must demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English that is equivalent to four terms of university coursework in the same language. You may satisfy this requirement by taking language courses or through credit by exam. (16 units)

Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's Program

    • This program is available as an Accelerated Undergraduate/Graduate Plan wherein a student may start a master's degree while simultaneously completing their bachelor's degree.

    • Students enrolled at the Flagstaff campus for both undergraduate and graduate programs are eligible to complete the Bachelor of Arts in History and start a Master of Arts in History - Portfolio Track at NAU.

    • Students must apply to the master's program by the graduate program's application deadline, meet all admissions requirements listed in the policy Accelerated Bachelor's to Master's Programs, as well as the admissions requirements for the specified master's plan to be considered for admission. Admission to programs is competitive and qualified applicants may be denied because of limits on the number of students admitted each year.

      Be sure to speak with the Master's Program Director/Coordinator regarding your interest in the accelerated plan.

    • Students accepted into the Accelerated Program should complete the following requirements:

    • This major requires 55 units distributed as follows:

      • History – Introductory Surveys: 12 units
      • Remaining History Course Selections: 27 units
      • Foreign Language: 16 units


      HIS 300W, HIS 498C and at least 18 additional units must be taken at NAU including at least 6 units at the 300-level and at least 6 units at the 400-level.

      Take the following 55 units with a combined minimum GPA of 2.5:

    • History Course Selections (27 units)
      These 27 units must be completed with a Grade of "C" or better in each course.

    • Foreign Language Requirement

    • You must demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English that is equivalent to four terms of university coursework in the same language. You may satisfy this requirement by taking language courses or through credit by exam. (16 units)

General Electives

  • Additional coursework is required if, after you have met the previously described requirements, you have not yet completed a total of 120 units of credit.

    You may take these remaining courses from any of the academic areas, using these courses to pursue your specific interests and goals. You may also use prerequisites or transfer credits as electives if they weren't used to meet major, minor, or liberal studies requirements.

    We encourage you to consult with your advisor to select the courses that will be most advantageous to you.

Additional Information

  • If you meet the following criteria, you become eligible to receive History Departmental Honors when you graduate.

    To obtain Departmental Honors, you must:

    • have an overall grade point average of 3.5 or better;
    • have an overall grade point average for all History courses taken of 3.7 or better;
    • complete a minimum of 39 units of History courses;
    • complete a senior thesis or an Honors project under the supervision of a history faculty member; and
    • present the results of the thesis or Honors project at the University Honors Program Symposium, or at a History Department symposium or at a regional/national scholarly conference.

  • The History Department strongly encourages you to study abroad or intern abroad.  For more information on global learning opportunities, benefits, or requirements, please consult the History Department website and your advisor. 

  • Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also successfully complete. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.