History
- Degree Type Bachelor of Arts
- Department History
- Academic Division The College
- Offerings Major
History examines the past through various lenses — social, political and intellectual; textual and material — enriching us as individuals and preparing us to engage the complexities and ambiguities of the contemporary world.
History
History courses emphasize careful reading and analysis of original sources in order to approach the past on its own terms. But we also stress that studying history is an interpretive process requiring attention to methods, theories and scholarly debates. The training students receive in research skills, critical analysis and expository writing prepares them to pursue careers in business, education, law, public service and a variety of other professions.
The history major is compact enough that many students choose to double major, add a minor or sample broadly the rest of the W&L curriculum.
Our department offers a variety of courses and perspectives on the remote and recent histories of the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and East Asia. It supports programs in Africana Studies, East Asian Studies, Environmental Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Russian Area Studies, and Women and Gender Studies, and offers courses in the history of science.
The history major takes students up a ladder from introductory surveys and seminars (100-level courses) through intermediate courses (200-level) to specialized research seminars (300-level courses).
As a history major, you will choose from a wide array of offerings to build a course of study!
Opportunities
History students may pursue an internship at a public or private agency or institution and can earn history credit for their experience.
W&L offers a range of study abroad options supported by the resources necessary to ensure a suitable international experience for any student. The History Department sponsors several trips during the Spring Term. W&L strongly encourages student research. The History Department can provide financial assistance to students who wish to attend conferences or to engage in research travel.
The Washington and Lee History Department offers advanced students the opportunity to undertake significant original research culminating in an honors thesis. Successful candidates earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in history.
Outcomes
Our graduates have gone on to careers in public service, government, teaching, museum curating, law, business, finance and more.
Washington and Lee Names Six Faculty Members to Endowed Professorships in The College and The Williams School
These faculty have been recognized for their outstanding teaching, scholarship and service to the university.
W&L’s Alexander Kagan ’27 Named a Constitutional Studies Fellow by the Hertog Foundation
Kagan will spend two weeks in an intensive learning experience focused on American constitutional history and development.
Best Foot Forward
Icy Keneah ’26 turned a childhood love of fun socks into a nonprofit serving communities in Rockbridge County and her hometown of Richmond, Virginia.
W&L’s Janie Harrison Earns Fulbright to Spain
Harrison looks forward to developing both her teaching and language skills with the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship.
Icy Keneah ’26 Named to Allstate NACDA Good Works Team
The senior women’s basketball player was one of 20 winter sports athletes honored nationwide for volunteerism and civic engagement.
Kameliya Atanasova is the Next Speaker in the Anne and Edgar Basse Jr. Author Talk Series
Atansova will deliver a lecture on the joys and challenges of writing a book on March 3.
Mikki Brock to Headline Fourth Beyond the Page Event
The professor of history will discuss her book, “Plagues of the Heart.”
Visiting History Professor Authors Article in Spanish Edited Volume
Leticia Fernández-Fontecha’s article, published in “Dibujos para una guerra 1936-39,” examines children’s drawings from the Spanish Civil War.
W&L Presents Peter Beinart in Conversation with Seth Cantey
The two politics professors will discuss themes from Beinart’s new book, “Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza,” on Feb. 3.
Leticia Fernández-Fontecha is the Next Speaker in the Anne and Edgar Basse Jr. Author Talk Series
Fernández-Fontecha will deliver a lecture on infant pain denial on Feb. 3.
Mikki Brock Named to the Shortlist for Research Book of the Year in Scotland
The history professor’s book “Plagues of the Heart” was published last year.
The Journey to ‘Jeopardy!’
TJ Fisher ’15 held a five-game winning streak in October 2025, securing a spot in the Tournament of Champions.
Meet the Faculty
At W&L, students enjoy small classes and close relationships with professors who educate and nurture.
Michelle D. (Mikki) Brock
Professor of History; History Department Head
- P: 540-458-8762
- E: brockm@wlu.edu
Brock teaches courses on early modern British and Atlantic history, witchcraft and demonology, and the Reformation. Her research focuses on religion and gender in early modern Scotland.
Henryatta Ballah
Associate Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8456
- E: hballah@wlu.edu
Ballah’s teaching and research focus on 19th and 20th century Africa. Her book project explores the political activism of Liberian youth from 1950 to 2010.
David Bello
Elizabeth Lewis Otey Professor of East Asian Studies and East Asian Studies Program Head
- P: 540-458-8770
- E: bellod@wlu.edu
Bello teaches courses in Chinese and Japanese history. His research focuses on Qing China and borderland environmental history. He has published a number of notable scholarly works on the subject.
Nneka Dennie
Associate Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8963
- E: ndennie@wlu.edu
Professor Dennie is a Black feminist scholar specializing in African American intellectual history. Her courses examine race and gender in the United States and the Caribbean. She is currently writing two books about 19th century Black women thinkers.
Leticia Fernández-Fontecha
Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Romina Green
Assistant Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8094
- E: rgreen@wlu.edu
Professor Green Rioja’s research interests include examining structural racism in modern Chilean history and identifying settler-colonial policies that displaced the Indigenous Mapuche.
Alana Holland
Assistant Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8912
- E: aholland@wlu.edu
Holland teaches courses on Russian and East European history, modern Europe, and the history of the Holocaust. She is writing a book on trials of Holocaust perpetrators in postwar communist courts in Eastern Europe and related cultural and artistic representations.
Sarah Horowitz
Professor of History
Horowitz teaches courses on modern European history and specializes in French history and the history of gender in Europe. She is writing a book on the politics of gender and sexuality in the Steinheil Affair of 1908-1909.
Molly Michelmore
Professor of History
Michelmore teaches courses on race, class and politics in postwar America, the age of Reagan, the 1960s, and the Cold War. She has researched fiscal policy and welfare state formation, as well as American political development.
Barton A. Myers
Martin and Brooke Stein Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8776
- E: myersb@wlu.edu
Myers teaches courses on the military history, Presidential history, the American Civil War, the U.S. South, and public history.
Nicolaas A. Rupke
Johnson Professor of History
- P: 540-458-8344
- E: rupken@wlu.edu
Rupke teaches courses in the history of “science, politics and the public good,” dealing with animal behavior as it relates to human morality, with Darwin and his critics, scientists as political leaders, and medical history.
