Faculty and Staff

Department of History

Location: Lech Walesa Hall Room 4085
Hours: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
Phone: (773) 442-5630
(773) 442-5630
Mateo M. Farzaneh smiles into the camera
Mateo
Mohammad
Farzaneh
Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of the History Department, Chair of the Political Science Department, Principal of The Mossadegh Initiative
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5821
Expertise
History of Iran, the modern Middle East, and the Islamic civilization, political Islam
Courses Taught
Hist 111F: World History: Islam
Hist 275: Wring and Methods for History Majors, topic: World War I and the Middle East
Hist 382: The World in the 20th Century: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues
Hist 392: Problems in History: History of the Modern Middle East
Hist 392: Problems in History: Religion, Culture, and Controversy in the Islamic World
Hist 392: Problems in History: History of Iran
Hist 401: Historiography and Historical Methods
Hist 466: Readings in the 19th Century Islamic Middle East (Graduate Colloquium)
Research Interests
Iranian women and gender in war, Islamic Clerics and Modern Politics; Constitutionalism and Reform; Religious Nationalism
Education

University of California Santa Barbara

History, Ph.D., 2010

Selected Publications

Books:

, Latifeh Yarshater Book Award Honorable Mention by Association for Iranian Studies and Persian Heritage Foundation

, Best First Book Award 2016 by the National History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta.

Articles:

“Akhund Khurasani: A Historical Model for Iranian Constitutionalism,” Digest of Middle East Studies (forthcoming)

“Gum shudih-yi dar safihati tarikh,” Sharq, (2012); a Persian language journal published in Iran

“Interregional Rivalry Cloaked in Iraqi Arab Nationalism and Iranian Secular Nationalism and Shi‘ite Ideology,” International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies (2009)

“Shi‘i Ideology, Iranian Secular Nationalism, and the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88),” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (2007)

“Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and the Migration of Iranian Youth to California,” Encyclopedia of Immigration and Migration in the American West (2005)

Background

An Iranian native, Mateo Mohammad Farzaneh attended high school and college in southern California. After spending seven years in nursing and health care industries, his curiosity led him to pursue a higher education in history. He is quadrilingual, speaking Persian, English, Spanish and Arabic. Recipient of a number of prestigious awards and fellowships, he taught world and Middle Eastern history at Santa Barbara City College and California State Fullerton before joining NEIU’s History faculty in 2010. 

Room LWH 4085
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5821
Office Hours
By appointment only.
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Joshua Salzmann
Joshua
Salzmann
Professor and Associate Chair
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5632
Expertise
Joshua Salzmann teaches classes on the history of cities, the environment, and crime and violence in the United States. His book "Liquid Capital: Making the Chicago Waterfront" examines how policymakers and business leaders forged public-private partnerships to create a landscape conducive to capital accumulation — and, in the process, set powerful precedents for environmental protection and regulation of industry. Salzmann has published articles in academic journals including: LABOR; Enterprise and Society; and the Journal of Illinois History. His writings have also appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business, In These Times, and Smithsonian Magazine. His current research is about the history of gun control in Chicago and Washington D.C. since the 1960s.
Courses Taught
FYE 109: History of Chicago
Hist 214: American History, 1607 - 1877
Hist 215: United States History, 1877-Present
Hist 300W: Writing and Methods for History Majors
Hist 334: History of American Sports
Hist 335: History of Crime and Violence
Hist 342: The City in American History
Hist 346: Environmental History
Hist 393: Capstone Research Seminar
Hist 434: Graduate Readings in 20th Century U.S. History
Hist 435: American Cultural and Intellectual History
Hist 439: Graduate Readings in 20th Century U.S Social History
Hist 444: Graduate Research Seminar
Research Interests
The History of Cities, Capitalism, and Natural and Built Environments
Education

University of Illinois at Chicago

History, Ph.D., 2008

Selected Publications

Book:

“Liquid Capital: Making the Chicago Waterfront” (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018).

Winner of 2018 Superior Achievement Award, Illinois State Historical Society

Honorable Mention in 2019 Jon Gjerde Prize competition, Midwest History Association

Peer-Reviewed Articles and Book Chapters:

“Blood on the Tracks: Accidental Death and the Built Environment,” in City of Lake and Prairie: Chicago’s Environmental History, eds. William C. Barnett, Kathleen A. Brosnan, and Ann Durkin Keating (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2020).

“Bionic Ballplayers: Risk, Profit, and the Body as Commodity, 1964-2007,” (co-authored with Sarah Rose) LABOR: Studies in the Working-Class History of the Americas 11 (Spring 2014): 47-75.

Winner of 2016 biennial “Best Article Prize,” Labor and Working Class History Association

“The Creative Destruction of the Chicago River Harbor: Spatial and Environmental Dimensions of Industrial Capitalism, 1881-1909,” Enterprise and Society: The International Journal of Business History 13 (June 2012): 235-275.

“The Lakefront’s Last Frontier: The Turnerian Mythology of Streeterville, 1886-1961,” The Journal of Illinois History 9 (Fall 2006): 201-214.

Room LWH 4094
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5632
Office Hours
Email for appointment
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Morgan smiles into the camera.
Francesca
Morgan
Ph.D.
Professor and NEIU-UPI Secretary
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5609
Expertise
U.S. History since 1800; Family, Gender, and Sexuality
Courses Taught
Hist 214: United States History to 1877
ZHIS 214: Honors United States History to 1877
Hist 215: United States History, 1877 - Present
Hist 300W: The Historian's Craft
Hist 324: The Civil War and Reconstruction Eras, 1848-1877
Hist 326: The U.S. in Depression & World War, 1933-1945
Hist 338: Women in American History
Hist 339A: Sexuality & Intimacy in America
Hist 393: Capstone Seminar in History
Hist 433: Readings in Nineteenth-Century America (Graduate Colloquium)
Hist 443: Seminar in Nineteenth-Century America (Graduate)
Research Interests
The history of genealogy in the United States since 1800.
Education

Columbia University

History, Ph.D., 1998

Selected Publications

"A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History (book). Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2021." 

"'My Furthest-Back Person': Roots and the History of Black Genealogy.”  In Reconsidering Roots: ­Race, Politics, and Memory, edited by Erica L. Ball and Kellie Carter Jackson, 63-79.  Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2017.

“A Noble Pursuit?: Bourgeois America’s Uses of Lineage.” In The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth Century, eds. Sven Beckert and Julia Rosenbaum, 135-152. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

“Lineage as Capital: Genealogy in Antebellum New England.” New England Quarterly 83, no. 1 (June 2010): 250-282.

Women and Patriotism in Jim Crow America (book). Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.

Room LWH 4095
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5609
Office Hours
By appointment
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Michael W. Tuck
Michael
W.
Tuck
Ph.D.
Associate Professor
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5629
Expertise
History of Africa; Atlantic History
Courses Taught
Hist 111E: World History-Africa
Hist 300W: The Historian's Craft (WIP)
Hist 370: Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa
Hist 371: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Africa
Hist 372: History of Southern Africa
Hist 373- Women and Gender in African History
Hist 392- Problems in History: Slavery & Slave Trades
Hist 393- Capstone for History Majors
Hist 401- Historiography and Historical Method
Hist 470- Graduate Readings in African History
Hist 471- Seminar in African History
Research Interests
History of Africa; Atlantic History; Environmental History; Slavery and Slave Trades; Economic History and Trade
Education

Northwestern University
History, Ph.D., 1997

Room LWH 4089
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5629
Office Hours
By appointment only
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Ashley Elrod
Ashley
L.
Elrod
Assistant Professor
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5624
Expertise
Early Modern Europe, Disability Studies, History of Science, Magic, and Religion
Courses Taught
HIST 111A: World History: The West to 1500 302B: Age of Reformation 307B: Age of Enlightenment 309: History of Disability
HIST 300W: The Historian's Craft
HIST 302B: Age of Reformation
HIST 307B: Age of Enlightenment
HIST 309: History of Disability
HIST 343: Science, Magic, and Religion in History
HIST 393: Capstone for History Majors
Research Interests
European history, German history, disability, guardianship, legal culture, gender
Education

Duke University

History, Ph.D.

Selected Publications

“‘Moral Madness’: Representations of Prodigality, Disability, and Competence in German History,” in Disability in German-Speaking Europe: History, Memory, and Culture, ed., Linda Leskau, Tanja Nusser, and Katherine Sorrels (under contract with Camden House, 2022).

“Denouncing the Spendthrift: Debating Social Identity in the Court of Law and Public Opinion,” in Names and Naming in Early Modern Germany, edited by Beth Plummer and Joel Harrington. Berghahn Publishers (Oxford, UK), May 2019.

Additional Information

Awards & Honors:

  • National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Institute “Global Histories of Disability,” 2018
  • Andrew W. Mellon Foundation & Council for European Studies, Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2016-2017
  • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Research Scholarship, 2013-2014

 

LWH 4093
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5624
Office Hours
Fall 2021: Tues & Thurs 1:45-3:15 p.m. and additional days/times by appointment. Available via phone and Zoom; in-person meetings upon request.
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
photo of Dr. Nikolas Hoel smiling at the camera
Nikolas
O.
Hoel
Instructor
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5634
Expertise
Medieval and Byzantine History
Courses Taught
Hist 111A: World History, The West, to 1500
Hist 300A: Ancient Greece
Hist 300B: Ancient Rome
Hist 301: Medieval Europe
Hist 311A: History of England to 1688
Hist 315: Women in Medieval Society
Hist 392: Problems in History: Survey of Byzantine History
Hist 392: Problems in History: Saints and Sinners in the Medieval World
Hist 392: Problems in History: The Crusades
Hist 392: Problems in History: Religion and Reform in the Age of Constantine
Hist 410: Readings in Medieval History
Research Interests
Religious, Social, and Cultural History; Intellectual History; Hagiography; Medieval, Byzantine, and World History; Rome and Late Antiquity
Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Medieval and Byzantine History, Ph.D., 2013

Room LWH 4081
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5634
Office Hours
By appointment
Main Campus
Dr. Christina Bueno standing with an umbrella and children in the background looking at a pond
Christina
M.
Bueno
Professor; Bernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research Professor
History
Latina/o and Latin American Studies
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5608
Expertise
Latin American History
Courses Taught
Hist 111D: World History: Latin America
Hist 353: History of Mexico
Hist 354: Contemporary Latin America
Hist 392: Problems in History: Food and Drink in History
Hist 392: Problems in History: History of the Cuban Revolution
Hist 392: Problems in History: Revolutions in Modern Latin America
Hist 392: Problems in History: Writing and Methods for History Majors
LLAS 101: Intro to Latino and Latin American Studies
Field Seminar in Latino and Latin American Studies
Seminar on Mexican Nationalism and National Identity
Mexico City in Historical Perspective
Pro-Seminar: Latin America in the Cold War
Graduate Seminar: Commodities in Latin American History
Graduate Seminar: Latin America in the Cold War
Graduate Seminar: Resistance and Accommodation in Mexican History
Research Interests
Mexican history, Latin American history, nation building, national and ethnic identities, race, indigenous peoples, museums, material culture, history of archaeology, history of memory, postcolonial studies.
Education

University of California, Davis
Latin American History, Ph.D.

Selected Publications

Book:

"The Pursuit of Ruins: Archaeology, History, and the Making of Modern Mexico" (University of New Mexico Press, 2016.)

Winner of:

  • Michael C. Meyer Prize for Best Book on Mexican History in a Five-Year Period, 2017
  • Alfred B. Thomas Award 2016, Honorable Mention
  • Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 2017 Book Prize, Honorable Mention

Room LWH 4087
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5608
Office Hours
On leave Fall 2024.
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Charles Steinwedel
Charles
Steinwedel
Ph.D.
Professor
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5606
Expertise
Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet history; Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century; Europe 1871-1919; and graduate courses on the Russian Revolution and European Empires.
Courses Taught
Hist 111B: World History: The West, 1500 - Present
Hist 305: Europe in the Age of Imperialism, 1871 - 1919
Hist 314A: Russian History from the Varangians to 1855
Hist 314B: Russian and Soviet History, 1855 - Present
Hist 308: Human Rights in History, Literature, and Law
Research Interests
Empire, nationality, and religion in late imperial Russia; Sugar and Power in Late Imperial Russia
Education

Columbia University

History, Ph.D., 1999

Selected Publications

Threads of Empire: Loyalty and Tsarist Authority in Bashkiria, 1552-1917 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2016).

Room LWH 4081
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5606
Office Hours
On leave 2024-25.
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Richard Grossman
Richard
Grossman
Professor Emeritus
History
College of Arts and Sciences
Expertise
Modern Central American History and United States foreign relations.
Courses Taught
Hist 111D: World History: Latin America
Hist: 332B: United States Foreign Relations, 1914 - Present
Hist 351: History of Central American and the Caribbean
Hist 353: History of Mexico
Research Interests
Latin America
Education

University of Chicago

History, Ph.D., 1996

Background

Dr. Grossman specializes in modern Central American History and US Foreign Relations. His recent publications include "The Hero Never Dies: Augusto Sandino of Nicaragua" in Samuel Brunk and Ben Fallaw, eds. Heroes and Hero Cults in Latin America (University of Texas Press. 2006) and "The Blood of the People: The Guardia Nacional de Nicaragua's Fifty Year War Against the People of Nicaragua, 1927-1979" in Cecilia Menjivar and Nestor Rodriguez, eds. When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror (University of Texas Press, 2005).

Office Hours
None
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
Andrew Eisenberg
Andrew
Eisenberg
Professor Emeritus
History
College of Arts and Sciences
Expertise
East Asian History
Courses Taught
Hist 111C: World History: East Asia
Hist 360: History of Pre-Modern China
Hist 361: Modern Chinese History
Hist 362: History of Japan to 1850
Hist 363: History of Japan Since 1850
Hist 460: Readings in Modern Japanese History
Hist 461: Readings in Classical Chinese History
Hist 463: Readings in Modern Chinese History
Research Interests
Early medieval Chinese history: 300s - 800s
Education

University of Washingtion

History, Ph.D., 1991

Selected Publications

" Emperor Gaozong and the Rise of Wu Zetian," Tang Studies 30: 2012, 45-69.

Kingship in Early Medieval China, Brill Press, 2008.

Office Hours
None
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
George Gerdow
George
Gerdow
Professor Emeritus
History
College of Arts and Sciences
Expertise
U.S. - Latin American Relations
Courses Taught
Hist 214: United States History to 1877
Hist 215: United States History, 1877 - Present
Hist 111D: World History: Latin America
Research Interests
U.S. - Latin American Relations; Latina/os in the U.S.; U.S. Foreign Policy; Native Americans
Education

Loyola University Chicago

History, M.A.

Office Hours
None
El Centro
Main Campus
Patrick B. Miller
Patrick
B.
Miller
Professor Emeritus
History
College of Arts and Sciences
Courses Taught
Hist 215: United States History, 1877 to the Present
Hist 329A: African American History and Race Relations to 1865
Hist 329B: African American History and Race Relations Since 1865
Hist 392: Problems in History: Documenting the Civil Rights Movement
Hist 392: Problems in History: Writing and Methods for History Majors
Hist 437: Readings in African American History (Graduate Colloquium)
Race and Ethnicity in 20th Century America (Graduate Seminar)
Race, Ethnicity, Nationality and Citizenship in Comparative Perspective (Honors Seminar; Graduate Colloquium)
Research Interests
Nineteenth and Twentieth Century American History, Cultural and Social; African American History and Rae Relations; Ethnicity and Immigration; Citizenship and Identity in Comparative Perspective; Sport History
Education

University of California, Berkeley

History, Ph.D., 1987

Selected Publications

Sport and the Color Line: Black Athletes and Race Relations in Twentieth-Century America (Co-edited with David K. Wiggins) Routledge, 2004.

The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Sport, (with David K Wiggins), University of Illinois Press, 2003. Runner-up for the 2003 Book Prize awarded by the North American Society for Sport History.

The Sporting World of the Modern South (Edited), University of Illinois Press, 2002.

The Civil Rights Movement Revisited: Critical Perspectives on the Struggle for Racial Equality in the United States (Co-edited with Elisabeth Schäfer-Wünsche and Therese Frey Steffen), LIT Verlag (Hamburg and Münster, Germany and London, UK; Transaction Press, USA, 2001).

(The Playing Fields of American Culture: Athletics and Higher Education, 1850 1945, under contract with Oxford University Press)

“Holding Center Stage: Race Pride and the Extracurriculum at Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the First Half of the Twentieth Century” in Susan Ditto, David Libby, and Paul Spickard, eds., Affect and Power: Essays on Sex, Slavery, Race, and Religion (University of Mississippi Press, 2005)

“Muscular Assimilationism: Sport and the Paradoxes of Racial Reform,” in Race and Sport: The Struggle for Equality On and Off the Field, Charles K. Ross, ed. (University of Mississippi Press, 2004).

“Sport as ‘Interracial Education’: Popular Culture and Civil Rights Strategies in the 1930s and Beyond,” in The Civil Rights Movement Revisited; and as "Before Jackie Robinson: Sport and the Civil Rights Campaign of the 1930s," in Sport and Politics: Proceedings of the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport, ISHPES, Budapest, 2002.

“Slouching Toward a New Expediency: College Football and the Color Line during the Great Depression,” American Studies, 40 (Fall 1999)

“The Anatomy of Scientific Racism: Racialist Responses to Black Athletic Achievement,” Journal of Sport History, 25 (Spring 1998), reprinted (abridged) in We Are A People: Narrative and Multiplicity in the Construction of Ethnic Identity, Paul R. Spickard and W. Jeffrey Burroughs, eds. (Temple University Press, 2000); reprinted in Sport and the Color Line; reprinted in David Karen and Robert E. Washington, eds, The Sport and Society Reader (Routledge 2010).

“The Manly, the Moral, and the Proficient: College Sport in the New South,” Journal of Sport History, 24 (Fall 1997); reprinted in The Sporting World of the Modern South

“To ‘Bring the Race Along Rapidly’: Sport, Student Culture, and Educational Mission at Historically Black Colleges during the Interwar Years,” History of Education Quarterly, 35 (Summer 1995); reprinted in The Sporting World of the Modern South

Background

Miller was, most recently, the 2016-2017 J.W. Fulbright Bicentennial Chair in American Studies at the University of Helsinki, where he guided courses and presented public lectures on the topics of U.S. Civil Rights and Race Relations. Over the last decade he has offered papers and participated in History Workshops in France, Spain, Poland, Germany, Austria, Israel and Tunisia, as well as Finland.

Currently, he is co-editor of the book series, “The African American Intellectual Heritage,” published by the University of Notre Dame Press. He was a consultant on one of the inaugural exhibits of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in 2016. At NEIU he has served as graduate coordinator and chair of the History Department.

Additional Information

Honors:

J.W. Fulbright Distinguished Bicentennial Chair in American Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland, 2016-2017

Distinguished Lectureship Program, Organization of American Historians, 2006-2012

J. William Fulbright Fellowship (Senior Scholar) Universität Bayreuth, Germany (Spring/Summer 2003)

National Endowment for the Humanities Grant: Co-director, NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers: "Sport, Society, and Modern American Culture" (with Steven A. Riess) (Summer 2002)

J. William Fulbright Fellowship, (Senior Scholar) Westfälische-Wilhelms Universität Münster, Germany (1998-1999)

Scholar in Residence, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, N.E.H. Fellowship (1992 93)

Spencer Fellowship of the National Academy of Education (1990 91)

Smithsonian Fellowship, National Museum of American History (1990 91)

Office Hours
Retired as of December 2019
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae
photo of Dr. Nikolas Hoel smiling at the camera
Nikolas
O.
Hoel
Instructor
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5634
Expertise
Medieval and Byzantine History
Courses Taught
Hist 111A: World History, The West, to 1500
Hist 300A: Ancient Greece
Hist 300B: Ancient Rome
Hist 301: Medieval Europe
Hist 311A: History of England to 1688
Hist 315: Women in Medieval Society
Hist 392: Problems in History: Survey of Byzantine History
Hist 392: Problems in History: Saints and Sinners in the Medieval World
Hist 392: Problems in History: The Crusades
Hist 392: Problems in History: Religion and Reform in the Age of Constantine
Hist 410: Readings in Medieval History
Research Interests
Religious, Social, and Cultural History; Intellectual History; Hagiography; Medieval, Byzantine, and World History; Rome and Late Antiquity
Education

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Medieval and Byzantine History, Ph.D., 2013

Room LWH 4081
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5634
Office Hours
By appointment
Main Campus
Michael W. Tuck
Michael
W.
Tuck
Ph.D.
Associate Professor
History
College of Arts and Sciences
(773) 442-5629
Expertise
History of Africa; Atlantic History
Courses Taught
Hist 111E: World History-Africa
Hist 300W: The Historian's Craft (WIP)
Hist 370: Precolonial Sub-Saharan Africa
Hist 371: Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Africa
Hist 372: History of Southern Africa
Hist 373- Women and Gender in African History
Hist 392- Problems in History: Slavery & Slave Trades
Hist 393- Capstone for History Majors
Hist 401- Historiography and Historical Method
Hist 470- Graduate Readings in African History
Hist 471- Seminar in African History
Research Interests
History of Africa; Atlantic History; Environmental History; Slavery and Slave Trades; Economic History and Trade
Education

Northwestern University
History, Ph.D., 1997

Room LWH 4089
91Porn
5500 North St. Louis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625
United States

(773) 442-5629
Office Hours
By appointment only
Main Campus
Curriculum Vitae

John Amundsen, Sarah Kane endow the John Amundsen and Sarah Kane Scholarship in History

“I was very inspired when I received a message from the History Department about helping students who haven't trod a traditional path in higher education, but who are nonetheless making great strides as History majors. This message spoke to me, as I didn't have a traditional undergraduate experience, transferring to NEIU. Northeastern's History Department not only gave me an academic home, but also gave me the flexibility I needed to finish my degree at my own pace.

When I learned that there were current transfer students and other upperclassmen in the History Department whose higher education path like mine contained some twists and turns, and that as a consequence they weren't always eligible for certain scholarships, I knew that these were the type of students I wanted to help. My wife Sarah and I are proud to have established this scholarship for History majors who are coming into their own, and for whom a scholarship can make a real difference in persisting in their education.” -Alumnus John Amundsen

The generous donation by John Amundsen (B.A. History '05) and Sarah Kane will enable the History Department to provide $2,000 in scholarship funds each year to support History students, and especially those who "haven't trod a traditional path in higher education" as John writes.

Thank you, John and Sarah, for your generosity!


Our world-class faculty and students engage in the study of the historical development of a broad spectrum of human societies. We analyze historical change rather than memorize facts. Members of the department produce award-winning research and have been selected by the University for their teaching excellence.

The Department of History offers courses leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. History is a flexible major that allows students to choose among a variety of electives based on their interests. Students can also choose history as a minor, which combines well with many majors.

Career Opportunities for the History Major or Minor

As a history student you will develop skills of critical thinking and writing that you will find indispensable as you pursue a variety of careers, including education, research, law, business, public affairs and the service professions. For more information, read the AHA's Careers for History Majors and What Can I Do With a Degree in History?

If you are interested in pursuing law school after completing your History degree, please contact David Nissam-Sabat, pre-professional advisor in the College of Arts and Sciences, at d-nissimsabat@neiu.edu or visit the Pre-Professional Advising website.

How to Become a History Major or Minor

To become a History major or minor, contact department chair Mateo Farzaneh at m-farzaneh@neiu.edu, or visit the Department of History in Room LWH 4085 and fill out a declaration form.

If you are also going into secondary education you need to declare both secondary education and history as majors. To find out more about the secondary education program, please contact Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education program advisor Vanessa King at v-king@neiu.edu. You may contact the Goodwin College of Education office at (773) 442-5500 or gcoe@neiu.edu

For general NEIU admission requirements, the helps new and returning students through the application process. In addition, the assists transfer students and returning veterans to transition to our campus.

Advising

When you declare history as your major/minor you will be assigned to an advisor. During the fall and spring semesters you should contact your assigned advisor for guidance about degree requirements, transfer credits, and which classes to take. Your advisor’s name is listed under your Academic Profile on . If you wish to see someone else, please contact the History Department office at (773) 442-5630. During the summer semester, please see Professor Farzaneh.

undergraduate major advisors

undergraduate minor advisor, summer advising

Mateo Farzaneh, chair of the Department of History, advises majors in the summer. Professor Farzaneh also does advising all year for minors, students in the Teacher Licensure Program, and Second Bachelor’s students. Please contact him at m-farzaneh@neiu.edu.

graduate advising

If you are a Master of Arts student or interested in the program, please contact Nikolas Hoel at n-hoel@neiu.edu.

Scholarships

The Department of History has five awards available for students:

  • The Brommel-Lindberg Scholarship in History provides one undergraduate history major at the junior level or above $1,200 for tuition and fees at Northeastern for the following academic year.
  • The J. Frederick MacDonald Scholarship provides one undergraduate history major at the junior level or above $1,000 for tuition and fees the following academic year.
  • The Dr. Joseph C. Morton Scholarship in History provides $1,000 for one student toward undergraduate or graduate studies in History.
  • The Susan E. Rosa Memorial Scholarship provides $1,725 for a promising student who embodies Susan's high standards and love of learning.
  • The John Amundsen & Sarah Kane Scholarship in History provides $2,000 for students who show promise in History, but who may have experienced a financial or other impediment that may prevent them from persisting.

The deadline to apply for the 2023-2024 awards has passed. Questions may be addressed to Professor Mateo Farzaneh at m-farzaneh@neiu.edu.

Clubs and Organizations

Students can join Phi Alpha Theta, the National History Honor Society. Phi Alpha Theta hosts several events each year. Students are also encouraged to attend seminars at the . Students interested in law school are welcome to join the .