Department of History
The Department of History is a community of scholars committed to studying the past in all its diversity. Our award-winning faculty excels in teaching, research, and engagement. Our students are deeply involved in historical study in and out of the classroom, and our alumni use their historical studies in a wide variety of careers. Our undergraduate program offers a fascinating, flexible major that permits study of the broadest possible range of human experience, while our graduate programs support advanced study at both the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. Aspiring and current teachers advance their careers through our educator licensure program in history and social sciences.
Read our statements about diversity, equity and inclusion on campus and beyond.
News
- Professor Andy Bruno has published a new book titled Tunguska: A Siberian Mystery and its Environmental Legacy.
- Professor Emerita Andrea Smalley also has a new book on shelves this year, The Market in Birds: Commercial Hunting, Conservation, and the Origins of Wildlife Consumerism, 1850–1920.
- 2022 History graduate Jeremy Knoll, a Student Marshall at Spring commencement, published his original research on Illinois Civil War monuments in the Summer 2021 issue of the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, the leading historical journal for Illinois history.
- History student Grant Goral was placed on the national All-In Student Voting Honor Roll in recognition of his outstanding work to advance nonpartisan democratic engagement.
Recent Awards
- Professor Beatrix Hoffman was awarded the NIU 2022 Board of Trustees Professorship for her internationally recognized scholarship on the U.S. health care system, her outstanding teaching, and her service to the NIU community.
- Professor Trude Jacobsen Gidaszewski received the 2022 Excellence in Online Teaching Award for outstanding work in online teaching, course development and student engagement.
- Professor Kristin Huffine received a 2022 Outstanding Mentor Award from NIU Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, in recognition of her years of unflagging support and advocacy for women students at NIU.
- Professor Damián Fernández has been awarded a prestigious Humboldt Fellowship for 2022-23 from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany.
- Professor Emma Kuby is the 2021-2022 American Council for Judaism Fellow at the American Jewish Archives. She also received a 2022 Franklin Research Grant from the American Philosophical Society. Both fellowships will support her research on Jewish Americans in postwar France.
- Sean Farrell won a Superior Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society for his book, The Irish in Illinois, co-authored with alumnus Mathieu Billings (Ph.D. 2016).
- Ph.D. candidate Dan McCoy received a highly competitive Fulbright Award to conduct dissertation research on his dissertation research in Indonesia during the 2022-23 academic year.
- Ph.D. candidate Alex Lundberg was awarded the Brazil Initiation Scholarship for 2022 by BRASA, the Brazilian Studies Association.
- Ph.D. candidate LeNie Adolphson received the 2022 Maass Grant from the Manuscript Society and a Pre-Doctoral Research Grant from the American Association for the History of Nursing.
Contact Us
Department of History
Zulauf 715
815-753-0131
history@niu.edu
Our office is open Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., except for a daily lunch break from noon-1 p.m.
