History
Welcome to Ryerson’s Department of History. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto – Canada’s largest and most dynamic city – the department presents great courses, receives outstanding teaching ratings, and produces cutting-edge research.
Students may explore the formation of societies in the ancient world, the historical roots of contemporary problems, and a great diversity of themes in the centuries between; and they may do so for different parts of the world and through a range of scholarly approaches. Within that broad context, we enable students to pursue many different interests related to the History of power, empire, revolution, war, culture, gender, society, ideas, science, and technology. We also provide opportunities for them to gain career-focused experience in the field and otherwise tailor their studies to achieve their particular goals.
Students may explore History at Ryerson University:
- within a degree in “History” or in “Arts and Contemporary Studies” within the Faculty of Arts;
- or as a component in another program in Arts or another faculty (including acquisition of a Minor in History);
- and/or as part of their liberal studies requirements in Arts or another faculty.
We hope you will find our courses and programs interesting, and we encourage you to contact us with your questions.
HOW TO STUDY HISTORY AT RYERSON
- History
BA - History in
ACS - Undeclared Arts/
Common Platform - History Minor &
Liberal Studies - Other
Full-time - Part-time, Evening,
& Distance
Students take 20 courses in the subject over four years in this Honours BA to pursue their interests (along with 20 foundational, liberal studies, and elective courses, each of which is one semester long).
Beyond examining significant issues from the past that fascinate scholars and the wider public, and which resonate in today’s world, Ryerson’s History degree has distinctive career-focused components. All students take foundational, historian’s craft, and seminar courses designed to develop research, analytical, and communications skills at a higher level of competence than normally can be taught in regular courses in order to equip graduates to succeed in today’s knowledge-based world. Students also may wish to explore one or more of our optional opportunities: heritage management courses for those thinking of museums, historic sites, and related fields as potential career choices; experiential learning courses for people seeking opportunities to perform professional work in History; and a thesis course for students considering graduate school or wishing to conduct in-depth investigations on topics that have captured their imaginations.
For more information about the History BA, please click here.
Within Ryerson’s innovative Arts and Contemporary Studies degree (ACS), students may:
- take the History Option with a focus on the subject (12 out of 40 degree courses); or
- pursue one of ACS’s interdisciplinary options in which History forms an important component (Cultural Studies; Diversity and Equity Studies; Global Studies; or Inquiry and Invention);
- obtain a Minor in History (except for students in the History Option); or
- explore History through liberal studies courses (except for students in the History Option).
To visit the Arts and Contemporary Studies website, please click here.
Undeclared Arts allows first-year students to take advantage of the first-year common platform in the Faculty of Arts so they may explore various subject areas before choosing one that best matches their academic and career interests. As well, the faculty’s common platform allows students who enter a subject-based program (such as History or English) in first year to transfer to another one if they wish.
To visit the Undeclared Arts website, please click here.
Students in Ryerson programs other than the History BA and the History Option of ACS may take a Minor in History and/or take History courses as part of their liberal studies obligations.
For more information about both the History Minor and liberal studies, and the difference between them, please click here.
As well as opportunities to take History as a Minor or within liberal studies, full-time students both within and outside the Faculty of Arts often may take History courses within the core structure of their programs. Students should consult their program websites and professionally related tables for more information. (Furthermore, various departments beyond History offer courses that focus on historical issues and topics, and these courses are listed in the Undergraduate Calendar.) Students needing assistance enrolling in History courses should contact us.
Ryerson’s G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education offers a wide range of History courses for part-time students and for full-time students who find it convenient to study the subject within the school’s evening, fall, winter, spring, summer, and distance formats.
Note: while part-time students may take History courses for credit and pursue part-time university certificates through the Chang School, only full-time students may obtain a History or Arts and Contemporary Studies degree at Ryerson.
To visit the Chang School website, please click here.
THE FUTURE OF HISTORY AT RYERSON
Ryerson and its Department of History are in the midst of an exciting period of expansion as the university responds to Ontario’s needs to educate a growing population, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area, where student numbers are increasing dramatically. Thus, the Department of History’s new (specialist) History BA and History Minor launched in the 2012-13 academic year, and joined the existing opportunities to study History within Arts and Contemporary Studies, in other Ryerson programs, as liberal studies, and through the offerings of the Chang School of Continuing Education. It also partners with The School of Image Arts in presenting a Minor in Curatorial Studies. The department looks forward to introducing both an undergraduate Major and a Master’s degree within the next few years as it continues to grow and serve student interests.
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