In 1969, the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces enacted the Organic Law of the Peruvian University, which created the academic departments. The PUCP set up an organising commission that created eleven departments, one of which was the Humanities department. It brought together teachers of Philosophy, History, Psychology, and Linguistics and Literature.
Among its first full-time teachers were Onorio Ferrero, José Antonio del Busto, Enrique Carrión, José Miguel Oviedo, Luis Jaime Cisneros, Roberto Criado, among others. In the 1980s, the specialisations of Archaeology, Library and Information Science and, finally, Geography were created. This led to an increase in the number of teaching staff, from 98 in 1980 to 143 in 1991. During Dr. Salomón Lerner's term of office, the Humanities auditorium was built.
With research as one of its pillars, the Department of Humanities has formed spaces such as the Centre for Oriental Studies, in 1988. "Now we want to transform it into a Centre for Asian Studies and make it more interdisciplinary," says Hernández. For its part, the Applied Geography Research Centre delves into environmental and climate change issues, while the Centre for Philosophical Studies (CEF-PUCP) coordinates and promotes research activities in that discipline.
Hasta el momento han ocupado la Jefatura del Departamento: Gerardo Alarco Larrabure, Salomón Lerner Febres, Pedro Rodríguez Crespo, Raúl Zamalloa Armejo, José Agustín De La Puente, Jeffrey Klaiber Lockwood, Krzysztof Makowski, Pepi Patrón, Miguel Giusti, Carlos Garatea y Francisco Hernández. Actualmente, Miguel Rodríguez Mondoñedo se desempeña como Jefe del Departamento de Humanidades.