History at Illinois

08/27/2026

Our faculty and graduate students gathered at Triptych to celebrate the start of the school year! Here's to another great year!

08/26/2026

The Department of History is launching the first undergraduate degree program in history and data science in the country!

By harnessing data science, historians can analyze vast troves of data to uncover its hidden patterns, validate existing theories, and even generate fresh hypotheses about past events and societal shifts.

Data literacy and analysis skills have become increasingly valuable across almost all industries. In our program students will apply a historian's training and insights to data and become prepared for a wide variety of data-informed careers.

Learn more at the link in the comments.

Liberal Arts & Sciences at Illinois

08/19/2026

History graduate student OT Thompson was awarded first place at the 2026 Summer Predoctoral Programs Research Symposium for her presentation "No Perfect Plan: Understanding Local Efforts to Desegregate Springfield, Illinois District 186." Congratulations!

08/18/2026

Read an interview with professor Laura Goffman!

Another fantastic talk with the brilliant Laura Goffman. Her work is truly impressive and we highly recommend you to take a peek into her work in this episode! Read the full interview at csames.illinois.edu

08/12/2026

Professor Marc Hertzman has been named a University Scholar in recognition of his excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service. Congratulations!

Learn more about the honor at the link in the comments.

08/10/2026

History professor Kalani Craig is one of eleven faculty members across campus to receive the Cohen Innovation Award from the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation!

Her project, Virtual Medieval Pilgrimages, is a public humanities platform that reimagines medieval pilgrimage through locally customized, geolocation-based experiences inspired by global pilgrimage traditions.

Learn more about her project at the link in the comments.

08/04/2026

Two history undergraduates, Tom Nguyen and Emily Langlois, are helping Holocaust survivor Dr. William Gingold create a Museum of Tolerance in Champaign-Urbana.

The museum hopes to educate guests about the oppression and prejudice people across the world have suffered and promote tolerance and acceptance of different cultures. The project is still in the early stages, but Gingold hopes to open within the next five years.

For Nguyen and Langlois, the project has been a chance to do something meaningful, and grow their skills in building partnerships, both with the groups they're reaching out to, and with each other.

Learn more about the project at the link in the comments.

07/28/2026

What does a "quack' medicine that claimed to cure everything from scurvy to gout have to do with British colonial rule?

Graduate student Katherine Horan traveled to the UK this summer to find out and investigate the family behind Spilsbury’s Antiscorbutic Drops.

Read about her discoveries at the link in the comments.

07/22/2026

07/22/2026

History alumnus Noam Zipris (BA, '26, history) received a Fulbright award to earn his master's degree in advanced public and cultural diplomacy for international relations at the L’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy. Congratulations!

Learn more about Zipris at the link in the comments. ⬇️