Consists of a minimum of 31 hours and must include:
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| HST 390 | Research Seminar | 4 |
| or HST 392 | Individual Research | |
| Select three hours in pre-modern history: | 3 | |
| The Early Middle Ages | ||
| The High Middle Ages Through the Renaissance | ||
| Europe: From Renaissance to Revolution | ||
| France to 1774 | ||
| Germany to 1871 | ||
| The British Isles to 1750 | ||
| Russia: Origins to 1865 | ||
| Middle East before 1500 | ||
| Pre-Modern China to 1850 | ||
| Japan before 1600 | ||
| Premodern South Asia | ||
| American West to 1848 | ||
| Colonial North America | ||
| African History to 1870 | ||
| Latin America's Colonial Past | ||
| Travel, History and Landscape in the Mediterranean | ||
| Medieval & Early Modern Iberia | ||
| Italian Renaissance | ||
| World of Alexander the Great | ||
| Jews, Greeks and Romans | ||
| Greek History | ||
| Rome: Republic and Empire | ||
| Wives, Writers, and Witches: Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1800 | ||
| Fashion in the Eighteenth Century | ||
| English Kings, Queens, and Spectacle | ||
| History of the English Common Law | ||
| Africans in the Atlantic World, 1750-1815 | ||
| Early Modernity in China | ||
| Early Modern Global Encounters: China and the World, 1400-1800 | ||
| War and Society in Early America | ||
| The Last Great Muslim Empires | ||
| Select three hours in each of the following three fields: | 9 | |
U.S. History | ||
European History | ||
African, Asian, Latin American, or Middle Eastern History | ||
History courses HST 101, HST 102, HST 103, HST 104, HST 105, HST 106, HST 107, HST 108, HST 109, HST 110, HST 112, HST 113, HST 114, HST 120, as well as those numbered 390 and above count toward the major but cannot be used to meet the distributional or pre-modern requirements.
Majors may count only two courses numbered 100-150 toward the required 31 hours.
Majors may include within the required 31 hours up to six hours of advanced placement or comparable work and up to six hours of any combination of HST 395, HST 398, and HST 399, other than the hours earned in HST 397. The student must take at least 15 hours of class work in history at Wake Forest University and have a GPA of 2.0 in history to graduate with the major.
Courses taken pass/fail do not meet the requirements for the major or minor.
Students who are history majors or minors may elect to complete a thematic concentration as part of their program of study. Concentrations require 9 hours of coursework, but do not require any additional hours beyond those needed for the major or minor. Students declaring a concentration must do so prior to the beginning of their final semester. Concentrations are offered in the following specializations:
- Cultural/Intellectual History
- Economics, Trade, and Commerce
- Gender/Sexuality/LGBTQ
- Global/Transnational History
- International Relations and Military
- Jewish History
- Politics, Governance, and Law
- Religion and Society
- Science, Medicine & Technology
- Social History
- Individualized Concentration
To complete a concentration, students must select courses in consultation with their major or minor advisor, submit an application to the department, and earn a ‘C’ in each course. Students who complete the requirements for a concentration will be awarded a certificate by the department and have the concentration included on their college transcript.
Highly qualified majors should apply for admission to the honors program in history. To be graduated with the designation “Honors in History,” the student must complete HST 391, present an honors-quality research paper, successfully defend the paper in an oral examination, and earn an overall grade point average of 3.3 with an average of 3.5 on work in history. For additional information, students should consult members of the department.