Welcome from the Chairperson

Old Horticulture Building

Old Horticulture Building

Department of History
506 E. Circle Dr. Room 256
Old Horticulture Building
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: 517-355-7500
Fax: 517-353-5599
history@msu.edu

Welcome! I became Chair of the department in August 2022, and I have been pleased and proud to serve a vibrant and diverse community of 41 faculty, 46 graduate students, and 325 undergraduates. I joined the department in 2008 as a specialist in modern North American history, and it is inspiring to collaborate with and learn from colleagues with expertise in and beyond my own field. The intellectual reach of the Michigan State University History Department’s expertise is truly global, and it is home to some of the world’s leading authorities on the histories of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. My colleagues are award-winning undergraduate teachers, and they are training the next generation of professional historians in our graduate program. In addition to excelling as writers and teachers, the MSU History Department has long been a leader in digital humanities. Today, in collaboration with Matrix: Center for Digital Humanities & Social Sciences, the department is home to one of the country’s most important digital humanities projects, Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade, which has created a linked open data platform making available thousands of records related to the historical enslavement of Africans. In a wide range of activities, members of the MSU History Department are committed to generating and communicating information about the past to promote the public interest in the present. I invite you to explore our website and learn more and please stay in touch.  

Michael Stamm
Department Chair