Students admitted to IU Online receive a full range of personalized support services, including:

• Onboarding
• Advising
• Success Coaching
• Math and Writing Support
• Career Services
• Peer Mentorship
• Tutoring

Your IU Online BA in History prepares you for such careers as:

• Historical program director, historical research associate, history instructor
• Historic interpreter
• County historian
• Museum docent, museum content creator
• Exhibitions curator
• Collections manager
• Archaeologist

Degree Requirements

To graduate with your BA in History, you must complete 120 credit hours. You may be able to transfer an associate degree or up to 64 credit hours from a regionally accredited two-year college and up to 90 credit hours from a regionally accredited four-year college or university.

Requirements are broken down as follows: 

• History foundation courses (15 credit hours)
• Advanced history courses (18 credit hours)
• History capstone course (3 credit hours)
• General education courses (30 credit hours)
• General elective courses (as needed to total 120 credit hours)

You can transfer up to 64 credit hours from a regionally accredited community college, or 90 credit hours from an accredited four-year university or college.

Andrew McFarland, Program Director

Andrew McFarland, program director for the BA in History, is chair of history, political science, and philosophy, and associate professor of history at IU Kokomo. He earned a PhD in Modern European History from the University of Texas at Austin. His specialties include modern Spanish and European history, and his research focuses on the development of physical education, sport, and soccer in early 20th-century Spain. Among courses taught are Western Civilization, Global History of Modern Sport, Russian Revolution and Soviet Union, Europe in the Twentieth Century, taught with the works of George Orwell, and History of Latin America.

Representative courses: Western Civ II, Russian Revolution, and Soviet Union.

“I enjoy helping students study historical times and places and find the commonalities between those worlds and our own. All societies are made up of common human experiences, and learning this helps break down the barriers and assumptions we all have. We do this online through primary sources, posters, and good discussions where students share their own background and learn from each other.”

Yu Shen

Yu Shen is professor of history and international studies at IU Southeast, and coordinator of the history program. She holds a PhD in history from the University of London. She is interested in the histories and cultures of China and Japan and in foreign relations between the US and East Asian countries. Her research interests include Modern China and East Asian History. She has taught at IU Southeast for more than 20 years and is dedicated to developing online courses in Asian history and educating the next generation of East Asian Studies scholars.

Xiaoqing Diana Chen Lin

Xiaoqing Diana Chen Lin has been professor of history at IU Northwest since 1994. She holds a PhD in history from the University of Chicago. Her areas of teaching include Asian history (China and Japan), world history, and western civilization. Her research interests include modern Chinese culture, politics, and intellectual transformation. Among her grants and awards are the IU Northeast Trustees’ Teaching Award, IU New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities Award, East Asian Studies Center Course Development Grants, and IU New Frontiers Exploration Travel Fellowships. Courses she has taught include Modern China, Modern Japan, Modern East Asia, the World in the 20th Century, and Confucianism in Modern East Asia.

“Teaching an asynchronous history course online is about guiding students to find agency and empowerment in their interactions with historical materials. It gives me great satisfaction to see students gain insight, make meaningful connections, and come to own their historical analyses. It is what keeps me going as an online history instructor”

Jonathan Nashel

Jonathan Nashel is professor of history at IU South Bend. He received his PhD in American history from Rutgers University. His book, Edward Lansdale's Cold War, was published in 2005 by the University of Massachusetts Press. It charted the political and cultural world of an infamous CIA agent. He has also published articles on the Vietnam War and the CIA. He is also writing about the ways Americans have thought about the CIA since its founding in 1947.

Representative courses: America and the World, graduate thesis course.

“In my classes I work to get students to see the past in new and unexpected ways.”

Core

ALL core courses are listed here. You will select from among these courses to meet degree requirements. In addition to the courses listed here, the BA in History requires 18 credit hours of advanced study in history. You will select six history courses at the 300/400-level covering at least three of the following regions: United States, Western Europe, Russia/Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and East Asia.

Find course descriptions with our Search Schedule of Classes/Courses tool.