“What can’t you do with a History major?”
As survey after survey has revealed, employers in all sorts of fields are looking for exactly the same skills that we cultivate in our students: critical thinking, research, writing, speaking… (Here are the results of our most recent alumni survey on this theme.) Plus wide-ranging knowledge that helps our students understand and relate to people from a variety of backgrounds.
So it’s no surprise that another alumni survey found that there is no typical Bethel History career:
- About 30% work in the corporate sector: entrepreneurs, accountants, salespeople, managers, etc.
- Another 25% work in elementary or secondary education — here’s a map of where our alumni are serving as teachers and principals — and another 13% work in higher education
- About 10% each were in government/law and the non-profit sector
- Surprisingly, 5% work in health care — which points to another advantage of the History major: because you learn how to learn, you’re always prepared to continue your education, whether that means getting a degree in nursing or dentistry, or social work or museum studies, going to law school or seminary, or retraining for a new skill
For more personal insights into what you can do with a History major from Bethel, meet some of our alumni whom we’ve interviewed on this blog:
- Major League Baseball Umpire — Jeff Nelson ’87
- Nautical Archaeologist — Christopher Olson ’87
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Emily Osborne ’06, social studies teacher at Mahtomedi (MN) High School and Oxford program director for Summerfuel Directing a College Library — Kevin McGrew ’88
- Nonprofit and Corporate Research — Jon White ’90
- Dean of Student Life — Meloni Rudolph ’94
- Islamic Studies — Amy (Kline-Blount) Poppinga ’99
- High School Principal — Bart Becker ’01 and Dave Lutz ’07
- College Admissions — Scott Kirchoff ’03 and Bret Hyder ’04
- Corporate Leadership — Brandon Raatikka ’03
- Dentistry — Heidi (Hultstrand) Pound ’04
- The Army JAG Corps — Peter Williams ’04
- VP of Marketing — Tim Goddard ’04
- Graduate Study in Ancient History — Katie (Thostenson) Dunker ’05
- Nonprofit Entrepreneur — Tim Anderson ’05
- Leading Worship — Andene (Christopherson) O’Neil ’05
- Teaching High School Social Studies — either straight out of college (Emily Osborne ’06) or by going back to school for a master’s in teaching (Heidi (Pound) Louwsma ’05)
- Teach English in China — Michael Bumann ’06
- Social Work — Joylynn (Corum) Israel ’07
- Financial Planning — Brandon Marcott ’07
- Public History and Museum Studies — Ashley Wyatt ’09
- Magazine Editor and Publications Coordinator — Tim Krueger ’10
- AmeriCorps — Amy Arends ’10 and Jacob Manning ’15
- Congressional Staff — Caleb Graff ’10
Or watch this video, featuring interviews with corporate attorney Tony Barthel ’99, teachers Annie Sjoholm ’09 and Brad Dahlman ’08, nurse Kim Pegelow ’05, and public policy student Keith Miller ’05:
Finally, those interested in continuing their historical studies in a master’s or doctoral program should check out our four-part interview with Ben Wright ’05 (PhD, Rice University), Katie Thostenson ’05 (doctoral candidate, U. Edinburgh), and Noel Stringham ’07 (doctoral candidate, U. Virginia).
