What will I learn?
History is the study of the human past, interpreted with artifacts, written evidence, and oral traditions. It is an inquiry into human experience, considering the diversity and complexity of human experience across time and place. It recognizes the particularity of different historical actors in the past, as well as the larger scale of those experiences. As a discipline, history requires a deliberative stance towards the past the sophisticated use of information, evidence, and argumentation and the ability to identify and explain continuity and change over time. Historical study is essential to active citizenship. The History program enables students to consider the forces that have shaped world societies. History students learn to assess past evidence and conflicting interpretations about the past. History classes provide opportunities to engage critically on sources produced in the past and about the past. History students learn how to combine different kinds of evidence to make coherent arguments. They learn how history has been used as a tool of other interests. History students engage in respectful debate, achieve perspective, and analyze the magnitude and significance of events and ideas in the past.Our department focuses on doing history rather than simply memorizing it. Our courses introduce students to the history of the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the world. Our intermediate and advanced courses consider these regions within specific frameworks of historical understanding, including class, gender, ethnicity, race, culture, society, religion, art, architecture, politics, technology, war, and more.
