Ohio Wesleyan offers a broad range of U.S., European, Pacific Asian, and Latin American history courses. You have a great deal of creativity and flexibility in designing a program that suits your personal and historical interests, whether by taking listed courses or pursuing independent studies with individual faculty.
Ohio Wesleyan's history program gives you two major options, so you can create a program that fits your interests and career goals.
Independent research is a key element of The OWU Connection, and history majors can work one-on-one with a faculty member on an original, two-semester independent research project.
Some individual research funded by the university has taken students to Ireland, Sweden, Nepal, and Spain.
From your first year on campus, you can get off campus—with travel-learning courses. Journey to a distant land and immerse yourself in another culture. Learn how classroom theory truly connects with real-world experience.
Recent Travel-Learning History classes have journeyed to Great Britain and Vietnam. In spring 2017, students travelled to France and Germany to study castles and cathedrals of the Middle Ages.
In addition to history internships on campus and in the Delaware-Columbus area (see "Highlights" below), OWU helps students obtain exciting internships in Washington (DC) and across the nation.
The Wesleyan in Washington program offers academic credit for working in approved internships in Washington, D.C. Students have worked in congressional offices and other agencies. Independent city living is also part of the program.
Students can also apply for Theory-to-Practice grants for university funding. These grants have gone toward internships, individual research, and more across the globe.
Mackenzie Sommers '16 helped digitize a collection of Confederate records as a part of her duties as the Army Reference Team Intern at the National Archives via the Wesleyan in Washington program.
OWU faculty are outstanding scholars and researchers—and passionate teachers. They will push you, challenge you, inspire you, and work with you on your own research and creative projects.
They can even pack a 3-minute lecture with ideas, insight, and imagination. Check out our unique I³ lectures.
The department's student board organizes annual socials, assists in programming, offers advice on departmental policies, conducts faculty evaluations, and aids in candidate search and selection when necessary. An election is held each spring to elect both seniors and underclassmen to the board.
The Delaware Historical Society offers internships that enable students to receive academic credit and gain valuable experience in public history by working with historical archives. Students also learn about local history by conducting research and giving tours.
Ohio History Day holds district and state competitions on campus. OWU students have the opportunity to serve as interns, volunteers, judges, and mentors for entrants in this program, which is based at the Ohio History Center in Columbus.
Top scholars visit OWU every year to deliver public talks on important topics. In 2022, Caroline E. Janney, Ph.D., the John L. Nau III Professor of the American Civil War at the University of Virginia lectured on "An End or Beginning: Lee's Army after Appomattox" and OWU professor Michael Flamm, Ph.D., shared "OWU at War: Charles Leighton and the Memphis Belle." In 2024, Jonathan W. White, Ph.D. a professor of American Studies at Christopher Newport University and co-winner of the 2023 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize was the Richard W. Smith Lecture in Civil War History lecturer using one of his books published in 2023 Shipwrecked: A True Civil War Story of Mutinies, Jailbreaks, Blockade-Running, and the Slave Trade as the springboard for the lecture.
Rachael Nicholas '16 dreamed of becoming a park ranger since her time at OWU. Check out her path from OWU to Gettysburg National Park.
Normandy Scholar Slater Sabo '19 stands in a bomb crater at Point du Hoc.
Normandy Scholar Maddie Lancaster '19 stands where the British HORSA gliders landed in order to take over the Pegasus Bridge.
During her trip as a Normandy Scholar, Maddie Lancaster '19 spoke with Colette, a member of the French resistance.
Normandy Scholar Slater Sabo '19 at a gun battery at Longues-ser-Mur, the only gun battery along the Norman Coast with guns still in their emplacements.
