History Majors Prepare for What’s Next

History Majors don’t just learn about people and events of times gone by—they develop valuable, transferable skills, such as the ability to read critically, analyze data, and write effectively. UCF’s Department of History is helping their students understand the skills and expertise that they will need as historians and explore how they can use their training in a variety of professional and civic settings.

Associate Professor Dan Murphree is spearheading these efforts with a new pilot course, “History Majors in Society and Careers.” As Murphree describes, “Teaching this course has been rewarding in many ways.  Not only are students engaging in multiple professionalization activities and learning more about how to articulate the skills they are learning as History majors, but the experience is showing me the value of this course in addressing learning objectives, curricular issues, and in meeting the needs of our transfer students.”

Murphree’s course developed out of the American Historical Association’s Tuning Project, a nationwide, faculty-led initiative to define the core of the historical discipline and articulate “the skills, knowledge, and habits of mind that students develop in history courses and degree programs.” According to the Tuning Project,

History is a set of evolving rules and tools that allows us to interpret the past with clarity, rigor, and an appreciation for interpretative debate. It requires evidence, sophisticated use of information, and a deliberative stance to explain change and continuity over time. As a profoundly public pursuit, history is essential to active and empathetic citizenship and requires effective communication to make the past accessible to multiple audiences.

It’s easy to see how the history major can prepare UCF students to meet their goals, in their careers and in public life.