Our History

Prof. Shirley Bill lectures at Navy Pier campus; students in the 1970's attentively listen in a lecture hall, and the exterior of University Hall in Fall of 2024.

Excellence in Research and Teaching

The Department of History at the University of IIllinois Chicago can trace its roots to the founding of the UIC Navy Pier campus and the creation of the Division of the Social Sciences after the Second Wold War. Since the opening of the Chicago Circle campus on the West Side in 1965, the Department of History has resided at the core of UIC's academic life. The Department has produced thousands of graduates across its undergraduate programs, its doctoral program, and its prestigious Teaching of History program. Scholarship by faculty, students, and alumni have impacted an amazing variety of academic, civic, anc cultural institutions, from the historical profession, museums and cultural institutions in Chicago and beyond, and even the United States Supreme Court.

Below is a timeline of the Department's founding, development, and achievements from the days at Navy Pier to the present. PhD student Paúl Ribera assembled the timeline after extensive research in the Department's and University's archives.