The 18-credit Public History minor focuses on developing real-world skills and foundational theory and method to prepare students for careers in a variety of public history fields, including archives management, museum work, federal and state public history programs such as the National Park Service, historic preservation, interpretive historical sites, and cultural heritage management. Additionally, the minor will prepare students for graduate study in public history fields and library and information science. Undergraduate coursework in the Public History minor emphasizes best practices as well as exposure to related skills and contexts that serve diverse publics and the preservation of heritage in the form of texts, objects, buildings, and landscapes. The Public History minor is housed in the History and Political Science department, but it is an interdisciplinary minor with an integrated community-engaged practicum or internship experience. Over the course of the minor, students will construct a portfolio of their work. Courses must be from at least two disciplines (as reflected by the course prefix).

Students minoring in Public History should contact the Department of History and Political Science to be assigned a minor advisor as early in the program as possible. 

Students majoring in History are eligible to minor in Public History. Students majoring in History can count only one course for both the History Major and the Public History minor.  Students in other majors should consult the course catalog and/or their advisor for rules specific to their major.

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HI-440 can be used as a free elective, so long as the internship is public history-oriented and advisor approved.