About the Department

The Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta is recognized as one of the leading departments for the study of History and Classics in Canada and globally. Our students work with professors who are outstanding teachers and world-class researchers active at the forefront of their chosen fields. Our faculty include three winners of the J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research (the university's top research award), and we have a superb record of teaching, with many of our faculty and instructors having won prizes in recent years.

We have thriving Honors programs for both History and Classics undergraduate students, as well as a History and Classics Undergraduate Society (HCUS).

Our strong MA and PhD programs attract excellent graduate students from across the globe. Our graduate student organization, the History and Classics Graduate Student Association (HCGSA), holds one of the largest graduate conferences in Canada annually in the spring.

Our students regularly take advantage of study abroad opportunities, including the archaeological field schools usually run in the spring and summer months. A growing number also benefit from the work experience opportunities offered through the Faculty of Arts.

In addition to bringing in guest speakers throughout the year, we also host two major lectures annually: the Western Canadian History Lecture and the L.H. Thomas Lecture, both of which attract wide audiences both from the campus community and the general public. We also hold a Bag Lunch lecture series run by our graduate students, which bring together faculty and students for interesting and stimulating discussions of current research. In Classics, we hold four talks per year sponsored by the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and many other events. The WG Hardy Classics Museum provides public programming and volunteer opportunities throughout the academic year.