Research

What are Notre Dame History’s areas of excellence?

While the Notre Dame history faculty have research interests and scholarly expertise in a wide range of thematic, geographic, and chronological areas, it has longstanding strengths in a number of areas. The department excels in medieval studies, religious history, U.S. history, and a range of interdisciplinary areas, including peace studies, the history of medicine, and political history.

What makes the faculty in the Department of History stand out?

Notre Dame historians are exceptional scholars, winning major fellowships and grants and winning awards for the high-quality books and journal articles they produce. Faculty are addressing topics that offer an understanding of the social, economic, democratic, and structural issues of the past in a manner that offers clear connections to modern circumstances and issues. Notre Dame history faculty take a global, interdisciplinary approach to their work, collaborating and partnering with scholars in other fields and in locations around the world to advance their pursuit of knowledge.

What sets Notre Dame History apart?

Notre Dame is firmly committed to investing in the humanities, including in history, and there are a rich set of resources across campus that support the pursuit of original research by faculty and graduate students. In the College of Arts & Letters, the Franco Family Institute for Liberal Arts and the Public Good offers many opportunities for faculty to receive grants and fellowships to support their work, funding to host large academic conferences on campus or in one of Notre Dame’s global locations, and receive expert guidance on improving applications for major fellowships.

The Medieval Institute, the Devers Program in Dante Studies, and the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism are just a few places that offer funding, host programming, offer support for postdoctoral scholars and graduate students, and bring people together in order to improve the quality of scholarly life on campus.

Elsewhere at Notre Dame, there are many other centers and institutes that bring together scholars across disciplines and offer funding and support opportunities for historians. Learn more about them on the Partners page.

By the Numbers

Notre Dame History faculty have won

• 3 Guggenheim fellowships
• 6 fellowships and 3 significant grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities
• 4 American Council of Learned Societies fellowships
• 10 major book prizes won inthe past 10 years