公共历史是传统教室环境之外的历史和文化表现形式。这些追求包括但不限于博物馆，历史保护，历史遗址管理，档案管理，文化资源管理，纪录片制作，数字历史项目和政策应用。WMU的公共历史计划是美国历史最悠久的计划之一，WMU的教职员工于1980年帮助成立了国家公共历史委员会（NCPH）。WMU的公共历史计划与NCPH一样，也强调了跨学科的研究方法。它使专业人员做好准备，以使最广泛的公众参与不断出现的历史和文化问题。在WMU，我们的研究生和本科课程强调公共历史，为有兴趣的人员提供文学学士和硕士学位以及研究生证书。对于
Public history is the presentation of history and culture outside of the traditional classroom setting. These pursuits include, but are by no means limited to, museums, historic preservation, historic site management, archival management, cultural resource management, documentary film making, digital history projects, and policy applications. The public history program at WMU is one of the oldest in the nation, WMU faculty helped to found the National Council on Public History (NCPH) in 1980. The WMU public history program, like the NCPH, stresses an interdisciplinary approach to the field. It prepares professionals to engage the widest public audience in the continually emerging questions of history and culture. At WMU, our graduate and undergraduate programs emphasize public history, offering B.A. and M.A. degrees as well as a Graduate Certificate for those interested in the field. For the Master's degree, there are three tracks on which a student may progress to receive a degree. On the Thesis track, where a student completes a master's thesis, the student who enters with a B.A. must complete 30 credit hours of graduate coursework (typically 4 full-time semesters). For the Public History track, where a student participates in internships and practical placements, the student who enters with a B.A. must complete 30 credit hours of graduate coursework (typically 4 full-time semesters). On the General Option track, a student who is not completing a thesis and does not satisfy the requirements of the public history option may still receive a Master's degree after completing 33 credit hours of graduate coursework (typically 4 full-time semesters).