Augie History Home Page +Why History? + History Curriculum + Faculty + Careers

Career Opportunities

The variety of alumni careers is testimony to the fact that employment opportunities for history majors are broad and varied in scope. Over 1100 history majors have graduated from Augustana College.
A sizable number gain employment in teaching history and social studies on the secondary level. A smaller group enroll in graduate school to become college history teachers, librarians, museum curators, archivists, and archaeologists, which are professions closely related to history.

The remainder of our majors enter a wide range of occupational fields, including government service, business, banking, law, ministry, jounalism, and broadcasting.

The Quest for Quality

We pride ourselves on the quality of students and their achievements after leaving Augustana. In the past three decades our history majors have been the recipients of 5 Woodrow Wilson Fellowships, 11 Fullbright Scholarships, 8 NDEA Fellowships, 2 Rotary International Fellowships, 1 Rhodes Scholarship and 1 Rockefeller Fellowship.
Augustana history majors have entered a variety of graduate and professional programs at universities including Georgetown, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Fletcher School of Diplomacy and the Universities of Chicago, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, and Virginia.

Some Prominent alumni of the Department of History

Robert Berdahl (1959) President, University of Texas at Austin
Mary Bierkamp (1978) Vice President, First Bank, Minneapolis, MN
Mary Beth Blegen (1965) 1995 National Teacher of the Year, Worthington, MN
Bob Elmen (1952) Owner, Elmen Rent-All, Sioux Falls, SD
Kenneth Holum (1961) Author and Professor University of Maryland
David Lillehaug (1976) U.S. Attorney General for the State of Minnesota
Peter Rogness (1967) Bishop, Milwaukee District, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, WI
Paul Van Bockern (1973) Owner, Minerva's Restaurant, Sioux Falls

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