In February 1982, the study association for “Maatschappijgeschiedenis” (Societal History) was founded. It was named “Faculteitsvereniging Maatschappijgeschiedenis Rotterdam” (Faculty Association Societal History), F.M.R. in short. Later, the study “Kunst & Cultuurwetenschappen” (Arts & Culture) joined the faculty and for this study another association was founded called “De Rotterdamse Nieuwe” (The Rotterdam New) in 1989/1990. In the academic year of 1990/1991 these associations decided to merge into one association, which they named “Histartes” (short for History and Arts).
In 2009, a new bachelor was launched and became part of the faculty, the “International Bachelor Communication and Media” (IBCoM). A large part of the IBCoM students are internationals, so in order to involve all those students within Histartes, the association was committed to do all communication in English from 2011 onwards. In 2012/2013 the IBCoM event committee (IBCoMmittee) was fully integrated into Histartes, in order to fully incorporate IBCoM within the faculty association. The last step of this incorporation process was made by changing the name to International Faculty Association ACE in 2014. The International aspect of the association became even more important when the faculty introduced an international version of cultural studies (International Bachelor Arts & Culture, IBACs) in 2014 and an international version of history (International Bachelor History, IBH) in 2015.
Currently, as faculty association of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, International Faculty Association ACE has about 900 members and 11 active committees that organize all activities during the academic year.