Fuel your career with both a purposeful and a flexible curriculum in history and government.
Our online and on-campus programs offer a broad foundation in History and Political Science with a high degree of interdisciplinary collaboration.
About Our Online Program
Program Overview | Delivery Format | Courses | Faculty | Admissions | Tuition & Fees
Overview
The online Master of Arts in History and Government is a joint program offered by the History and Political Science departments to provide a broad foundation in both fields.
The program offers flexible schedule opportunities to working professionals in the areas of government and education. The students can fuel their careers with a purposeful yet flexible curriculum.
Meet Your Needs with a Fast and Flexible Program
Generally, the program takes two to three years to complete but could be completed faster if the student is full-time and takes courses year-round.
Up to 12 hours of credit can be transferred in from another institution.
Rigorous Curriculum Offered by a Distinguished University
UNO is one of 88 institutions of higher education nationally classified as a doctoral/research university, according to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching out of the 4,000 academic institutions it categorizes.
Competitively Priced Accessibility
Competitively priced tuition from a convenient, accessible location – your computer.
Delivery Format
The program is available for both on-campus and online students.
While we offer on-campus courses for interested students, the program can be completed fully at a distance. Courses are asynchronous, meaning students and instructors may access the content at any time and do not have to be connected to the internet at the same time.
All online courses are accessed via the Internet and use a learning management system. All online students will need to have basic recommended technology requirements. High-speed internet is required.
To be successful, students taking online classes should be reasonably comfortable using a computer and the internet.
Courses and Degree Requirements
- This is a 36-credit-hour degree program that offers education in the classics of history and political science disciplines and individualized attention to each student's particular area of interest.
- All students will be exposed to a broad foundation of History and Political Science, taking colloquiums and seminars in Themes in Global History, Themes in US History, American Government and Politics, International Relations, Comparative Politics, Constitutional Law, Foreign and Security Policy, and Political Theory.
- The elective courses are chosen by the student in consultation with the graduate advisor to create a student-specific program of study tailored to each student's interests in history and political science.
Course List
History Required Seminars:
- HIST 9200: Colloquium - Themes in Global History (3 credits)
- HIST 9200: Colloquium - Themes in US History (3 credit)
History Electives selected from any other HIST graduate courses (12 credits)
Political Science Required Seminars
Select two of the following courses (6 credits)
- PSCI 8040: Seminar in American Government and Politics
- PSCI 8250: Seminar in International Relations
- PSCI 8300: Seminar in Political Theory
- PSCI 8500: Seminar in Comparative Politics
Political Science electives selected from any other PSCI graduate course (12 credits)
At least 2 of the elective courses (6 credits) must be additional seminars taken from either discipline.
Sample Curriculum - 3 years/4 courses per year
Year 1 | Summer - Fall - Spring (12 credits)
- HIST 9200: Colloquium: Themes in Global History (3 credits) - Summer
- PSCI 8040: Seminar in American Government (3 credits) - Summer
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Fall
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Spring
Year 2 | Summer - Fall - Spring (12 credits)
- HIST 9200: Colloquium: Themes in U.S. History (3 credits) - Summer
- PSCI 8500: Seminar in Comparative Politics (3 credits) - Summer
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Fall
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Spring
Year 3 | Summer (12 credits)
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Summer
- PSCI 8150: Seminar in Constitutional Law (3 credits) - Summer
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Fall
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Spring
- Portfolio exit requirement (0 credits) - Spring
Sample Curriculum - 2 years/6 courses per year
Year 1 | Summer - Fall - Spring (18 credits)
- HIST 9200: Colloquium: Themes in Global History (3 credits) - Summer
- PSCI 8040: Seminar in American Government (3 credits) - Summer
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Fall
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Fall
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Spring
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Spring
Year 2 | Summer - Fall - Spring (18 credits)
- HIST 9200: Colloquium: Themes in U.S. History (3 credits) - Summer
- PSCI 8500: Seminar in Comparative Politics (3 credits) - Summer
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Fall
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Fall
- HIST elective (3 credits) - Spring
- PSCI elective (3 credits) - Spring
- Portfolio exit requirement (0 credits) - Spring
Award-winning Faculty
Our faculty have received some of the highest honors for teaching excellence. We are also among the nation’s leaders in our research specializations; our work is published by the best academic presses or top-tier journals in the field.
Elizabeth Chalecki (Political Science) - UNO Maverick Trailblazer Award (2026); Technology Governance Fellowship at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo (Canada) (2026); UNO Alumni Teaching Award (2023); Fulbright Research Chair in U.S.-Canada Relations (2022); Research Fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (2020-2021)
Carson Holloway (Political Science) – College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award, Ralph Wardlee Diamond Professor of Arts and Sciences
Huchen Liu (Political Science) - James A. Thurber Article of the Year Award, Congress & the Presidency (2025)
Jody Neathery-Castro (Political Science) - College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Service Award, College of Arts and Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award, Omicron Delta Kappa member, UNO Excellence in Teaching Award, Outstanding Faculty in Service Learning Award
Lana Obradovic (Political Science) - College of Arts and Sciences Research and Creative Activity Award (2026), Alumni Outstanding Teaching Award (2025), UNO Global Engagement Award (2022)
Martina Saltamacchia (History) - College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award, UNO Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award
Tenured/Tenure Track Graduate Faculty with World-Class Research Productivity
Unlike many other online programs, our graduate faculty are tenured/tenured-track, physically located on the UNO Campus, and are published in their respective areas of expertise.
Sample of recent faculty publications:
Danielle Battisti (History), Whom We Shall Welcome: Italian Americans and Immigration Reform, (Fordham University Press, 2019)
Elizabeth Chalecki (Political Science), “Governing India’s Geoengineering Attempts: An ISD International Negotiation Simulation” Case Study 372. Washington: Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University (with Lisa L. Ferrari, 2025); “Potential Security Implications of Climate Intervention Technologies for NATO” Balsillie Papers Vol. 10, No. 5, August 4, 2026; “Environmental Terrorism Twenty Years On” Global Environmental Politics Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 1-9, 2023; “Could Canada lead the formation of a new global geoengineering regime?” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal Vol. 28. No. 3., 2022
John Grigg (History), The Lives of David Brainerd: The Making of an American Evangelical Icon (Oxford University Press, 2009)
Carson Holloway (Political Science), Hamilton versus Jefferson in the Washington Administration: Completing the Founding or Betraying the Founding? (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
Charles King (History), The Ancient Roman Afterlife: Di Manes, Belief & the Cult of the Dead, (University of Texas Press, 2020)
Brett J. Kyle (Political Science), State Violence and Democracy: Inequality, the Rule of Law, and Public Order Violence (Palgrave Macmillan, 2026), with Tricia D. Olsen and Andrew G. Reiter, and Military Courts, Civil-Military Relations, and the Legal Battle for Democracy: The Politics of Military Justice (Routledge, 2021), with Andrew G. Reiter
Huchen Liu (Political Science) - “Presidential Messages on Legislation and the Congressional Targets of Lobbying” (Presidential Studies Quarterly, 2026); “Rulemakers’ Professional Experience and Rulemaking Efficiency in US Federal Agencies” (American Politics Research, 2024)
Lana Obradovic (Political Science), "Russian Strategic Culture and Deterrence in the Arctic” in Space & Defense (with B. Valiant, 2025); “Closing the Tech Gap: Updating Cyber and Technology Curriculum for Homeland Security Professionals” in Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (with D. House and M. Black, 2025); “Standardization of the Intelligence Analyst Workforce and Education: Are We There Yet?” in Journal of Security, Intelligence, and Resilience Education (with M. Black, 2024); “Behind the Curve: Technology Challenges Facing the Homeland Intelligence and Counterterrorism Workforce” in Journal of Cybersecurity (with D. House and M. Black, 2024); “Integrating Gender Perspective in Cognitive Warfare” in NATO OPEN (with J. Neathery-Castro, 2023); “Multi-Actor Deterrence: Defining the Concept” in Æther Journal of Strategic Airpower & Spacepower (with M. Black, 2022); and “Teaching Deterrence: A 21st-Century Update” in Journal of Political Science Education (with M. Black, 2020)
Admissions
Guidelines for Admittance
Applications Checklist
- Application and fee
- Bachelor's degree (3-6 hoursof PSCI and 3-6 hours of HIST preferred*) and official copy of all transcripts
- Statement of Purpose
- An academic writing sample (approximately five pages in length). For alternative writing assignments, please contact the academic advisor/recruiter.
- International students: TOEFL internet-based score of 80 with no sub-score under 15 (or equivalent scores from other approved English language tests)
*Promising students lacking history or political science backgrounds may be admitted provisionally.
Tuition & Fees
Tuition for distance education courses in other subject areas, or offered by other colleges may be different. For more information visit the UNO Student Accounts page.
Contact Us
Graduate Program Chair (History)
Dr. Martina Saltamacchia
Phone: 402.554.2482
Email: msaltamacchia@unomaha.edu
Graduate Program Chair (Political Science)
Dr. Brett J. Kyle
Phone: 402.554.3704
Email:bjkyle@unomaha.edu
Graduate Advisor/Recruiter
Tim Kniseley, MEd
Phone: 402.554.4121
Email: tkniseley@unomaha.edu