Department Advocacy Toolkit

What do students learn in history? What is the value of a degree in history? The AHA has assembled this toolkit to help departments, administrators, advisers, and students navigate the AHA's library of resources in order to better articulate the value of studying and majoring in history. If you're looking for data, personal narratives, or department strategies, this guide is for you.
For Career Counselors & Academic Advisers
What careers do history majors pursue? How does history contribute to a well-rounded education? Answers to these and other questions can be found on this page of resources curated especially for use by Career Counselors and Academic Advisers.
For Higher Education Administrators
How do courses in history support a robust curriculum and coherent student pathways? How does studying history prepare students for future success in other courses and in their careers? If you're a higher education administrator curious about the value of studying history, this page has resources selected especially for you.
For History Professors & Department Chairs
Data on careers for history majors? Enrollment trends and departmental strategies to attract students? Stories of student success? Find all these and more to make the case to students, colleagues, parents about the value of studying history.
For Students
What can you do with a history degree? What careers do history majors pursue? What skills do you learn when you study history? If you're considering pursuing a history degree, check out these resources curated especially for students.
Why Study History?
Interested in learning more? Check out the AHA's "Why Study History?" page.
Ben Rhodes on the Importance of Studying History
On September 3, 2019, the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University hosted a conversation with Ben Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor in the Obama administration. During the conversation, Rhodes stressed how important understanding history is for understanding issues in the world today.
Careers for History Majors Booklet
Through clear graphs and informal prose, readers will find hard data, practical advice, and answers to common questions about the study of history and the value it affords to individuals, their workplaces, and their communities in this new booklet from the AHA.
You can purchase this booklet online at Oxford University Press. For questions about the booklet, please contact Karen Lou (klou@historians.org). For bulk orders contact OUP directly.