The Department of History and Art History at George Mason offers undergraduate and graduate programs in American, European, and comparative world regional history emphasizing Africa, Latin America, and Asia. It also offers undergraduate majors, minors, and a master's program in art history. Faculty members share an interest in social and cultural history and in using a combination of verbal, visual, and technological tools in their research and teaching.

Members of the department support a wide array of other programs throughout the university including the interdisciplinary programs in Cultural Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Latin American Studies, African and African American Studies, Classical Studies, and the Honors Program in General Education.

In 1994, the Department established the Center for History and New Media. The center provides support for the doctoral program in history and has gained an international reputation for innovatively applying new technology to the study, preservation, and teaching of history. The center's faculty and staff have collaborated on groundbreaking new media projects, winning national awards, and major institutional support.

The Department of History and Art History takes full advantage of its location in cosmopolitan Northern Virginia, close to Washington, DC.  Students benefit from proximity to the Library of Congress and the region's rich variety of historical archives, specialized research libraries, world-renowned art museums, and information technology resources.

The department has a distinguished faculty. Five faculty members have won Guggenheim awards and others have received fellowships from a variety of institutions including the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Fulbright Fellowship programs, the Social Science Research Council, and major international museums. George Mason historians continue to be recognized with numerous book awards.