Historians need to tell “a better narrative about the relevance of our discipline” in order to rebuild the field’s brand and combat falling enrolments, writes Patryk J Babiracki (University of Texas at Arlington). Despite parent and student concerns about the outcomes of a history degree, Babiracki asserts that history graduates have the skills that today’s employers want: analytical thinking, problem-solving, curiosity, communication, and the ability to continually learn. The author provides several tips for building a stronger history “brand,” including telling stories about history graduates working outside of academia, promoting the importance of historically-informed thinking, and framing historians as expert researchers who can find and make sense of information. The author concludes by encouraging historians to engage the private sector, which broadens the discipline’s reach.
