Academic Programs
What You'll Be Doing
Gannon University believes learning about our past helps us understand the present and plan for the future. If you enjoy thinking critically and are ready to prepare yourself for a range of professions, Gannon’s history program is for you. As a history major, you will gain an awareness of the complex relationships in society and the need to understand our common heritage as citizens of the world.
Currently, expanding opportunities for history graduates include teaching, government intelligence work and the Foreign Service. History graduates can also follow career paths such as library work, archival record keeping, politics, public relations, advertising, journalism and editing. Law schools view history as one of the best preparations for the legal profession, and many government agencies often employ those who have studied history.
College Connections
Gannon’s history professors are among the most published and widely traveled faculty on campus. They are involved in professional associations at the regional, state, national and international level, and have lectured at dozens of universities, in addition to being interviewed numerous times on commercial and public television in the United States, Scotland, Latvia and Russia. They also go beyond research and presentations to teach with a passion and serve the community.
History students approach their studies from the base of their discipline, but add to the framework as they explore interdisciplinary dimensions added by students and professors in areas such as: geography, sociology, psychology, anthropology, literature, philosophy, political science, and foreign languages and cultures.
History majors are part of the culture of Gannon’s history department. They have previously provided feedback on faculty hirings, escorted guest speakers and aided the faculty in hosting lectures and a regional conference.
Phi Alpha Theta (International History Honor Society) recognizes the academic contributions of individual students, who are given the opportunity to share their research at regional conferences, present papers and meet peers from other universities. The quality of their work has been recognized over the years as they consistently have fi nished at or near the top in their panels and presentations.
History at Gannon is more than just classes. Jointly, the faculty and students are very active in extracurricular activities such as picnics and sailing, day trips to places like Niagara Falls and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and semester break excursions to Toronto and other cities. What’s not to like about standing in the Red Square in Moscow, seeing the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo at the Louvre, or exploring the Acropolis? Or walking on Little Round Top at Gettysburg, seeing the Old North Church in Boston, or sitting in Constitution Hall in Philadelphia? Gannon history majors have done all these things.
The Gannon Advantage
- Students at Gannon enjoy internships, co-ops and study abroad opportunities. In addition everyone completes our "Liberal Studies Core" -- 39 credits that will help prepare you for life.
- Gannon's Career Development Services Office reports that 97% of Gannon's recent graduates are employed or are enrolled in graduate studies.
- On our urban campus, students can enjoy all the conveniences of city living while feeling at home in Gannon's caring community.
- An overall 13:1 student to faculty ratio ensures that students receive the genuine commitment and personal attention they are seeking.
- Gannon's Career Service Center helps students search for graduate school or job opportunities, develop interviewing skills and design a professional resume.
- Over 70 clubs and organizations as well as 18 NCAA Division II athletics provide students the chance to be involved.
• The Gannon Historical Society provides avenues for leadership, as students assume the various offices and plan events and excursions.
• Gannon’s history program covers the traditional courses in American and European history, but also goes beyond them to examine Asian, African, Middle Eastern and Latin American history. Additionally, military history, black history, women’s history, and courses on Tudor and Stuart England and Hitler and Nazi Germany provide a more focused view of specific periods of study.
• Local internships at the Erie County Historical Society, the Erie Historical Museum and the Erie Art Museum have helped launch Gannon history majors into careers at the Smithsonian Institutute and the National Historic Preservation Trust.
• At the national level, Gannon history students have interned in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives and have had opportunities to do summer internships with the National Parks Service.
• The highest monetary award given by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University at the time was awarded to a Gannon history graduate.
• Gannon history majors have interned with state representatives in Harrisburg and have had opportunities to work with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at sites ranging from the Erie Maritime Museum and the Brig Niagara to the State Museum in Harrisburg and other historical sites throughout the Commonwealth.
• A Gannon history major interned with the English Parliament, and many have studied abroad in places such as Russia and the CIS, Greece, the Czech Republic, England, France, Ireland, Mexico, Italy, Poland and Spain.
• Gannon history graduates have succeeded in graduate and law schools including Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Notre Dame, University of West Virginia, University of Texas, Pennsylvania State University, George Washington University, Dickenson School of Law and others.
• Gannon’s history majors who have pursued careers in education have made contributions in primary and secondary education, and as professors and administrators (including college president) at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.
109 University Square • Erie, Pennsylvania 16541-0001
1-800 GANNON-U (1-800-426-6668) or 814-871-7000
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