Our doctoral program is presently ranked #1 in the nation. We share this distinction, according to US News & World Report, with Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.
The Department’s faculty has been honored with four MacArthur Foundation “genius” awards, more than a dozen Guggenheim Fellowships, and the Mellon Foundation’s Distinguished Achievement Award. The quality of our research has been recognized with myriad book prizes, and our dedication to teaching and mentoring has also been honored with awards.
In addition to the main library and the Bancroft rare book and manuscript library, there are eleven specialized libraries on the campus with more than two dozen special collections, containing over 10 million volumes. These resources are enhanced by borrowing privileges at Stanford University’s library and by access to the holdings of the nine other University of California campuses. The Bancroft holds over 60 million manuscript items with particular strength in the history of western North America (including California, Mexico, and central America), the history of science and technology, major European and American authors (particularly the Beat Generation), and the largest collection of papyrus documents in the Western hemisphere (the Tebtunis Papyris Center).
More than 60 ancient and modern languages are taught on the Berkeley campus, placing us among the top five universities in the country in terms of the breadth of our language offerings. If there’s a language you need for your research, you can learn it here.
While pursuing a doctorate in history you may also achieve a joint Ph.D. in Medieval Studies or Designated Emphases in Critical Theory; in Women, Gender & Sexuality; in Film and Film Studies; or in Global & Metropolitan Studies.
Recent graduates of the Department have gotten tenure-track jobs at Yale, Stanford, Brandeis, Rutgers, Middlebury, Wesleyan, Bates, Washington & Lee, Boston College, the Universities of Wisconsin, Delaware, and Colorado, as well as Trinity College in Dublin. 78% of those earning their doctorates from the department since 1990 are employed in tenure-track positions.
