Areas of Focus

Graduate students at Notre Dame study and engage in research centralized across four main areas of focus: the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the medieval world. We also encourage prospective students to explore other fields, such as Atlantic and global history, that cross and connect these fields.

Joint programs offer a “joint Ph.D.” in a research center elsewhere on campus.

United States History

The study of American history at Notre Dame combines the traditions of a long-established program with the vitality of a growing faculty. The department is noted for its strength in early American, cultural, intellectual, and religious history. Other areas of concentration include environmental, political, women’s, African American, Latino/a, and social history.

European History

Notre Dame offers a well-established program in early modern and modern European history. Students are introduced to the major issues and sources in their specialty through colloquia and seminars. Because we have a large and diverse faculty of Europeanists, students have great flexibility in designing their course of study. They may also pursue fields that bridge the trans-Atlantic world or that look back to the medieval period in Europe. Much support for research and study may be found through the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.

Latin American History

The program in Latin American history builds on Notre Dame’s distinguished tradition of scholarship and teaching on Latin America, a tradition that has expanded notably over the last decade. The program’s principal strengths lie in the colonial and early republican history of the Andean republics and in modern Mexico. We also support research across a range of nations and topics in the region, where the connection with early modern Europe is particularly strong. Notre Dame has extensive relations with Latin America, many centered in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.

Medieval History

The program in Medieval History extends beyond the borders of Latin Europe to embrace both the Islamic World and the Byzantine East. The program’s strength lies in the cultural and religious history of early Christendom, from the Carolingian period to the late Middle Ages, and the Mediterranean world. Beyond the Department of History, Notre Dame has dozens of other medievalists in departments affiliated with the Medieval Institute, which offers renowned library resources and complementary fields in theology, philosophy, art, literature, and music.

Joint Programs

Students in joint programs collaborate with a research institute and faculty in other departments to earn a “joint Ph.D.” in their chosen field. In the joint program in Peace Studies and History at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, students work in themes such as colonialism, imperialism, and the historic roots of inequalities. Students in the History track in the History and Philosophy of Science program at the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values gain an overview of the history of science from antiquity to the present day, which they can supplement with study on a particular theme or field.