"Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it ..."

... so goes a famous aphorism. Study of the past carries great relevance for the present and future. To know the history of one's own culture and community is to know oneself. Just as the amnesiac has lost not only memory but identity, so people without a consciousness of their past (both failures and triumphs) have forfeited an understanding of who they are. To go further, to learn the history of other cultures and communities--ancient and modern, Western and non-Western--is to grasp the grand tapestry of human creativity and tragedy, to see both commonalities and differences among cultures, to trace both continuities and changes from era to era, and thus to identify with the whole of humanity.

Distinctives of Seattle Pacific's History program

SPU, with its Wesleyan and evangelical heritage, strives explicitly to foster learning in the context of Christian faith, practice and character. Each of us as faculty in History sees beyond the human story to the acts of the God of history, who took on humanity at a moment in time in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. No glib judgments nor design to indoctrinate here, let it be said: we dare not presume to pronounce when and how and why God should act. But we affirm that history gains vibrant meaning in the light of Sacrifice and Resurrection. And, as scholars of both the brutality and majesty of the human story, we embrace God's good news of hope, for all humankind, for all of history yet to come.

• Professional Historian
  This includes careers at a university, in government, at a corporate history office, or with a museum or historical society. You'll need graduate study for this.
  
• Teaching History
  A large share of SPU history majors and minors are concurrently working on a K-12 history teaching endorsement from SPU's outstanding School of Education.
  
• Other History-Related Professions
  These are professions for which an understanding of history and culture is essential, such as law or the ministry. A double major (History - Political Science, History - Business, History - Religion) could be the perfect gateway.
  
• Careers Enriched by Historical Understanding
  These include international business, corporate public relations, the human service professions, journalism, military or diplomatic service, or educational administration (SPU Provost Bruce Murphy and UW President Richard McCormick are historians). A second major or even a minor in history could be helpful if you're headed this direction.

Of course, all careers, from programming to plumbing, retailing to radiology, are enhanced by a solid liberal arts education--one that teaches the person to read, reason, compute and communicate. That's precisely what history at SPU offers.