Arizona State University offers students a specific qualification in various fields of interest in public history and preservation. Students study history through the Public History Program in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. This program is the most direct path to a career in preservation or public history. Students interested in preservation can specialize in this area and prepare for a career in historic preservation and cultural resource management.
Students looking for a career as a local or regional historian can focus on the community history track. Students can also prepare for jobs in the public sector as historians or planning officers by concentrating on public administration and history. For students who want to be museum curators, the program offers a historical administration concentration or a museum studies concentration.
The core program courses focus on the research techniques necessary to understand public history and the role of public historians in society. Students then take elective courses. Students must also undertake a research project and take short courses taught by visiting professors. Students can also earn a certificate in scholarly publishing while studying for the history degree.
Graduate students with an undergraduate history degree can consider the Northern Arizona University for a Master's or Ph.D. in their preferred field of expertise. The graduate programs prepare students for careers in areas such as public service and research.
At the Phoenix, Arizona campus of Ottawa University, prospective students can undertake a undergraduate degree in history that focuses on world and American history. The undergraduate degree prepares students for graduate degrees for further specialization in preservation or public history if the undergraduate degree is not sufficient for career aspirations in those fields.
For students interested in becoming qualified in the field of African history as part of public history, the University of Arizona offers an Africana Studies bachelor's degree. Students learn about the impact of present and historical populations of African descent and the interaction between Africa and the Americas. This program is offered either as a major or a minor in the College of Humanities in the university.