Public History Certificate
Our Public History Certificate prepares undergraduate students, especially those interested in non-teaching history careers, to think like public historians and to put history “to work” in the world. Students develop analytical, interpretive, and practical skills by engaging with the theories and methodologies appropriate to applied historical practice. The certificate program offers coursework designed to meet the needs of future public history practitioners in public and private sector employment such as museum coordination, exhibition planning, archival management, historic site assessment, historic preservation, and cultural resource management. Emphasis is placed on historical research methods, collaboration with diverse stakeholders, digital tools, and other evolving practical skills necessary to effectively engage in public history positions and projects.
Lower Division
(2 Units)
Area 1: Introduction to History
- HIST 2900 - Historical Research Methods 2 unit(s)
Area 3: Public History Specialty
Choose one course:
- HIST 4006 - Oral History 3 unit(s)
- HIST 4010 - Local History 3 unit(s)
Area 4: Elective: Interdisciplinary Course with Practical Skills
(3 units minimum)
Courses below with enrollment restrictions are marked as follows: those with recommended prerequisites or the writing proficiency screening test with (*), definite (lower- or upper-div) prerequisites with (**) and those that are restricted to the department’s majors with (***).
- ANTH 4030 - Visual Anthropology 4 unit(s)
- * ANTH/HIST 4321 - Historical Archaeology 3 unit(s)
- * ANTH 4630 - Museum Collections Management 3 unit(s)
- *** ART 3380 - Public Sculpture 3 unit(s)
- *** ART 3621 - Narrative Video 3 unit(s)
- *** ART 3622 - Documentary Videography 3 unit(s)
- *** ART/JOUR 3623 - Digital Media Storytelling 3 unit(s)
- *** ART 3624 - Digital Video Compositing 3 unit(s)
- *** ART 3626 - Visual Storytelling for Video and Animation 3 unit(s)
- ART 4500 - Art, Museums, and Society 3 unit(s)
- *** ART 4580 - Exhibition Design and Gallery Management 2 unit(s)
- * ENGL 4015 - Grant and Proposal Writing 3 unit(s)
- GEOG 4750 - Geographic Information Systems 3 unit(s)
- ** GEOG/ANTH 4852 - Advanced Geographic Information Systems 3 unit(s)
- ** GEOG 4855 - Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Applications in Urban Analysis 3 unit(s)
- JOUR 3012 - Journalism Laboratory 3 unit(s)
Area 5: Elective: Other History Courses with Public/Digital History Components
(3 units minimum)
Courses below with (#) will only qualify for Area 5 beginning Fall 2024 or after.
- # HIST 4700 - U.S. Immigration History 3 unit(s)
- # HIST 4510 - United States and Latin America 3 unit(s)
- HIST 4530 - A History of Mexican and Central American Migration 3 unit(s)
- HIST 4710 - Mexican American History 3 unit(s)
- HIST 4920 - History of Genocide 3 unit(s)
- # HIST 4970 - Modern Assyrian History 3 unit(s)
- OR other history course with public/digital history component upon certificate advisor approval
Updated: June 23, 2025