Graduate Certificate of Completion in History

Earn Your Online Graduate Certificate in History

Grand Canyon University’s Graduate Certificate of Completion in History prepares those with a teaching background to teach online or on-campus history courses at two or four-year institutions. This program serves as an ideal continuing education pathway for teachers pursing career advancement, a new career path within the education field and/or a profession where they can share a passion for history.

Students who are curious about and fascinated by American and world history will be able to build upon their historical knowledge, while learning how to translate this knowledge into instruction for undergraduate classrooms. Students can expect to engage in the following topics:

• Historical global themes – population, economic networks, power/authority/government, race and class, cultural integration, science/technology/environment, spiritual life/moral codes and gender
   
• Historical U.S. themes – migration/immigration, religious/philosophical thought, republic/democracy, industrialization/business/labor, prosperity and consumerism, reform movements/social justice and war and society in American history
   
• Resources and opportunities provided by museums, historic places and archives to support teaching postsecondary history courses
   
• How diverse cultures, dynamics, economics and politics shaped the American West frontier into modern America
   
• Understanding of the past through contextual perspectives of race, class, gender and ethnicity and how these elements shaped the past

Balancing history content with pedagogy and classroom techniques, this graduate program provides teachers with advanced training within the fields of history and education. Students will be able to meet the graduate course and ongoing professional development requirements, as well as the 18 credits necessary to pursue teaching opportunities at the postsecondary level.

Adult working professionals can complete this history graduate certificate program online to benefit from the flexibility and convenience that distance learning provides. Graduate students will study through an innovative digital learning management system that enables collaboration and connections among students and the instructor. Students who excel in a traditional classroom setting may choose to attend evening classes on campus that meet once a week. Students can plan to complete this 44-week program in under a year.

Research and Analyze Events in History

This five-course program mirrors GCU’s Master of Arts in History with an Emphasis in Education. Students will gain competencies in these areas of study:

• Concepts in Understanding World History: Examine various themes associated with world history
   
• Concepts in Understanding U.S. History: Examine various themes associated with U.S. history
   
• Applied Studies in History Graduate Education: Engage in applied (public) history practice, focusing on how to use these methods in the classroom
   
• Studies in the American West: Investigate the history of the American West as a region and ideology
   
• Historical Perspectives of Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity: Explore historical perspectives of race, class, gender and ethnicity

Prepare for Various Career Options with a Graduate-Level History Certificate

Equipped with this graduate certificate in history, graduates may pursue positions in higher education as a college or university professor, faculty member or instructor. Potential workplaces include two or four-year colleges, universities, trade or technical schools and companies that specialize in educational research and publishing.

Graduates will enter into the higher education field with increasing job opportunities; the job outlook for postsecondary teachers between 2016-26 is projected to grow by 15 percent, which is much faster than average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.