National Council on Public History

Program Introduction

The Public History program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has a national reputation for its long-standing history of community engagement and innovative practice, including certificate programs in Museum Studies, Historic Preservation, Nonprofit Administration, and Archives Administration. Established in 1976 as one of the first programs of its kind, Public History at UW-Milwaukee has an extensive network of alumni working in the field, and we have regularly partnered with cultural institutions that reflect our vibrant and diverse urban community. More recently, UW-Milwaukee earned the rare distinction of being both recognized for research excellence as an R1 institution by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and also named among the nation’s top universities for community engagement by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Our faculty members have been actively involved with community-based collaborations while their research and teaching have embraced the digital humanities, international and transnational projects, and a wide range of subfields including religious studies and the history of photography. Our students take coursework in a campus setting near the shores of Lake Michigan, while they have also pursued internships both locally and farther afield at places such as the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the Smithsonian Institution, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museu