Prerequisites:
All upper division history courses (300 and above) are closed to freshmen except where specific exception is made by the instructor.
H125 Europe and the World 4 credits
This course is an introduction to history as a discipline and to the history of Europe. Students will develop an introductory sense of the political, economic, social and cultural history of Europe since 1500 and be able to apply this knowledge in analyzing contemporary issues. In particular, students will develop an understanding of the encounters between Europe and the rest of the world beginning with Columbus and be able to apply this knowledge in understanding today’s global world. Students will also develop an introductory sense of how historians think about change in human society over time, and how historians analyze evidence and develop interpretations. Students will develop the basic skill of interpreting primary sources of various kinds and constructing a historical analysis in written and oral form.
H150 The American Experience 4 credits
This course introduces students to the major themes of American history from the colonial period to the present. Students will examine social, economic, intellectual, political, diplomatic, and cultural facets of the diverse people who created America. Together we will explore the enduring paradox of separatism and unity within the American spirit.
H211 Modern America 3 credits
This course explores the history of the United States since World War II. It will focus on both foreign policy and domestic issues. One focus of the course is the global role assumed by the United States after World War II, another is the development of active domestic policies. Key issues that will be explored include the Civil Rights movement, the Great Society programs, the Cold War, U.S. foreign relations, the experiences of Vietnam, and the contemporary globalizing economy.
H250 Historical Thinking 3 credits
This is a sophomore level course for students intending to major in history or history/social science, or those interested in exploring these majors. It is also recommended but not required for history minors. The course introduces students to the discipline of history, and in particular to the skills of thinking historically, of collecting and analyzing historical evidence, of critically reading the work of historians, of doing historical research, and of writing effective research papers.
H298 Field Exploration 1–3 credits
This course is a supervised, practical application of historical concepts and techniques at institutions such as historic sites, museums and local and state historical societies.
H301 Ancient Greece and Rome 3 credits
This course is designed to give students a thorough grounding in the history of two fundamental cultures, Ancient Greece and Rome. Students will explore the origins, development, and decline of these Mediterranean cultures. Additionally, students will examine the connections between society, religion, politics, philosophy, art, and economics as they come to understand how each emerged as powerful states that continue to influence our world today. In addition to the major topics, the student will gain an understanding of the methods historians use to interpret the past.
H305 Colonial/Revolutionary America 3 credits
This course is designed to give students an overview of the major themes of Colonial American history. The course will cover a diversity of social, political, cultural, intellectual, and economic topics such as Native American society, European settlement in the southern, northern, and middle colonies, family and community structure, class issues, the development of slavery, and the events leading to the American Revolution. In addition to understanding the major topics, the student will gain an understanding of the methods historians use to interpret the past. Importantly, students will also get an in-depth look at historiography, as they will read a number of historical debates on topics such as women’s role in Colonial America and the meaning of the American Revolution.
H308 Constitution/New Republic 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the major themes of the Constitutional and New Republic periods. The course takes a long view of the New Republic period and reaches into Jacksonian America. The course will cover a diversity of social, political, cultural, intellectual, and economic topics such as the development of state constitutions and the ratification controversies surrounding the national constitution, slavery, the market revolution, the growth of democracy, and early reform movements. In addition to the major topics, the student will gain an understanding of the methods historians use to interpret the past as well as the historiography that surrounds this vital period.
H311 U.S. Foreign Relations in the 20th Century 3 credits
A general introduction to the history of American foreign policy in the 20th century. The course seeks to increase students’ awareness of the relationship of the U.S. to important issues of war and peace as they unfold in the world. It also pays attention to the linkage between the domestic political environment and its impact on foreign relations. Furthermore, it looks at important events and crises in U.S. foreign relations as well as some theories and practices of U.S. foreign policies. Students will acquire a good set of tools to carry on their exploration of the impact of U.S. foreign policy on the rest of the world.
H315 American-East Asian Relations 3 credits
The aim of this course is to do three things: provide a general introduction to the history of relations between the United States and the major countries of the East Asian cultural sphere (China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam); explore the changing images Americans have had of the peoples of these nations, the Chinese and Japanese in particular; and draw connections between both these themes and the experiences of Asian-American during the last century-and-a-half of American history. Special attention will be paid to crisis in American-East Asian relations, such as: the Boxer Uprising and the 1900 siege of Beijing, World War II and the Occupation of Japan that followed, the Vietnam War, and contemporary disputes over issues of human rights in China (stemming from the June 4th Massacre of 1989). Through classroom lectures, course readings, and a critical viewing of a variety of visual materials (including excerpts from newsreels, newscasts, and feature films) we will look at the process by which crisis involving American interests alter or give new life to enduring Western stereotypes concerning East Asia. A major goal of the course will be to provide students with the analytical tools and historical background necessary to put future crises in U.S.-East Asian relations, as well as the American media’s coverage of these crises, in perspective.
H320 The Middle Ages 3 credits
This course is a survey of the Middle Ages from the decline of the Roman Empire and classical culture to the fourteenth century. Primary emphasis is placed on understanding the process of creating Western civilization as the amalgamation of Roman, Christian, and Germanic cultures. Second, the course focuses on the principal characteristics of medieval culture such as: a feudal society, chivalry, the reform of the Church, the renaissance of the twelfth century, universities, the medieval synthesis, and the crisis of the fourteenth century.
H325 Cross-Cultural Encounters: The West and the Mediterranean 3 credits
This course is an examination of contacts between Western (Latin) culture and other Mediterranean cultures during the Middle Ages. Topics include the Byzantine Empire, the Arab Empire, Judaism and the Mediterranean Diaspora, with an emphasis on religious culture. The First Crusade will be studied as a cross-cultural encounter from ecclesiastical, secular, Byzantine, and Arab perspectives. There will be an emphasis on a comparative historical method.
H332 The Renaissance 3 credits
This course proceeds from the assumption that the Renaissance refers to a particular and creative cultural movement in Western history from the middle of the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. Students will explore traditional notions of the Renaissance such as: the revival of antiquity, humanism, innovations in art, and the Church. Non-traditional approaches such as the role of women in the Renaissance, are also discussed. The reading of primary texts by Petrarch, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Erasmus, and Thomas More is emphasized. Italian history is stressed but the Northern Renaissance will be studied as well.
H333 The Reformation 3 credits
In traditional terms the Reformation refers to the sixteenth-century religious movement that culminated in both the reforms of the Church and its division. The course balances a study of the theological issues that defined the magisterial Protestant Reformation and its Catholic counterpart with an exploration of popular religion and the everyday religious experience of sixteenth-century men and women.
H340–349 Selected Topics 3 credits
Selected topics in history may be offered depending on student and faculty interest.
H355 U.S. Women’s History 3 credits
This course is an examination of the image, roles, status, and activities of American women. In addition, gender issues will be explored within their sociopolitical, cultural, and historical contexts. Special emphasis will be placed on a comparative approach to the study of women’s lives as they interact with race, class, and ethnicity.
H365 Early Modern Europe 3 credits
The early modern period is one of the most tumultuous in Western history. Religious division, state building, war, and intellectual revolution are some distinctive features. Students will have an opportunity to investigate selected topics and historical methods including the development of absolutism, the Scientific Revolution, popular culture, and the Enlightenment. Topics may be added or deleted from time to time.
H366 Modern Europe 1789–1914 3 credits
This course is an introduction to the history of Europe during its explosive period of modernization, beginning with two concurrent world-changing events — the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. Using a variety of sources, including works by historians but also primary sources ranging from manifestos and letters to plays and novels, students will investigate the ideas and movements which emerged from this “dual revolution” to change the world, including imperialism, liberalism, socialism, feminism, and nationalism.
H367 Europe in the Era of World War 1914–1945 3 credits
This course is an introduction to Europe’s “thirty year crisis,” from the outbreak of World War I in 1914 to the end of World War II in 1945. Europe’s period of progress and optimism was shattered by the “Great War” in 1914. Four years of violence created the crucible out of which the monster of fascism arose. This led to an even larger war only twenty years later. During WWII, mass slaughter became commonplace, from the Nazi Holocaust to the Allies’ strategic bombing campaigns, which targeted civilian populations. Using a variety of sources, the course examines the big picture of great power confrontations, but also how the wars were experienced by individuals.
H368 Contemporary Europe 3 credits
This course is an introduction to the history of both Western and Eastern Europe since 1945, starting with the post-war recovery, and ending with the paradox of Europe in recent years, during which Europeans have been moving toward integration (the European Union) while at the same time experiencing inter-ethnic warfare (the Balkan wars). The course will study such major trends as the Cold War, decolonization, and the collapse of communism. Among a variety of primary sources, the course will use some of the popular culture of post-war Europe, especially film and rock music.
H380 Imperial Russia 3 credits
This course is an introduction to the political, social, economic and cultural history of the Russian Empire from its origins to the fall of the Romanovs. The course emphasizes the crisis of the old regime between the period of the Great Reforms of the 1860s and the revolution of 1917. In addition to works by historians, this course uses a variety of primary sources, including memoirs, manifestos, letters, and also works of literature by such authors as Aksakov, Turgenev and Tolstoy. The course seeks to lay a basis for understanding the Bolshevik experiment of the 20th century, as well as Russia’s contemporary struggle to define its identity after the collapse of the Soviet state.
H381 20th Century Russia 3 credits
The Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen new states, the largest of which is Russia, in 1991. This event was widely heralded in the West as a turn to democratic capitalism; a decade later this was no longer so clear. This course lays the basis for an informed understanding of today’s Russia by introducing its history in this century. The course highlights the revolutionary period including the Bolshevik seizure of power and Stalin’s “second revolution,” and also the recent past, including the periods dominated by Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin. In addition to works by historians, the course uses a variety of primary sources, including speeches, manifestos, eyewitness accounts, novels, and a series of influential Soviet films.
H390 Modern China 3 credits
This is a survey of Chinese history from the rise of the Qing Dynasty in the mid-17th century to the protest and repression of 1989. It discusses some of the main social, economic, cultural, political, and intellectual features of the “traditional” Chinese world the first Qing emperors ruled. It also covers the way this world changed as China experienced a series of convulsive events, including both threats from abroad and domestic rebellions and revolutions.
H450 History without Boundaries 3 credits
This is a capstone course required for history majors, strongly recommended for history minors, and open to students from other disciplines (including but not limited to social science and social science education majors). It provides students an opportunity to relate what they have learned in historical study to what they have learned in other fields including the natural sciences. The course will focus on close reading of several major historical works which make large claims about the human experience by integrating approaches from several disciplines, and also on critical evaluation of the debates generated by these works. The course will encourage students to broadly synthesize their learning and to deeply reflect on their intellectual; understanding of the human condition. Pre-requisites: H250 and junior history majors; other students must have completed one history course and have the instructor’s consent.
H460 Historical Research and Writing I 3 credits
The capstone course in the history major where students will formulate a research proposal, review secondary literature, analyze primary sources, report on work in progress, and research and write three chapters of the final research paper. Students will also gain experience critiquing other student research papers. Prerequisites: senior history major.
H461 Historical Research and Writing II 3 credits
This course is a continuation of research and writing, critique and revision of first draft, presentation of paper on campus or at a regional history conference. Prerequisites: H460, senior history major.
H496/497 Internship 1-17 credits
This course provides supervised “hands on” work experiences at institutions such as historic sites, museums, and state or national historical societies. |
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