Requirements
Students interested in the History concentration should contact the Undergraduate Coordinator, Traci Parker, as early as possible. Traci can provide information about requirements, opportunities, and will enroll you on the concentrator's listserve.
12 Courses are required to complete the history concentration:
- 6 Courses in your Major Field
- 4 additional Electives: These should be chosen to complement the main field, extend the range of the student's historical awareness, and explore varying approaches to historical analysis and interpretation. Students are encouraged to take courses that introduce significant civilization or chronological breadth.
- Students planning to graduate in 2012 are required to complete a pre-B.A. essay in their third year. Beginning with the class of 2013, the pre-B.A. requirement will be dropped and students will be required to take a Junior Colloquium. Students who will not be on campus their junior years should consult with the Undergraduate Coordinator about an alternative requirement.
- 2 courses: The Senior Seminar (Hist. 29800/29900). Every History concentrator is required to write a B.A Essay. This is a two-quarter research project in which students develop a significant and original interpretation of a historical issue of their choosing. Students are required to take the two-quarter Senior Seminar during the autumn and winter quarters of their last full year in the College. The Senior Seminar assists students in formulating approaches and developing their research and writing skills, while providing a forum for group discussion and critiques. In addition, students in the Senior Seminar will work closely with their faculty director, who is the first reader of their essay. The preceptor with whom the student has been working within the Senior Seminar serves as the second reader of the essay.
Some Basic Advice:
A typical course of study in the program would commence with basic history courses (100-level) and move on to more advanced and specialized courses (200- and in some cases 400-level courses).
- Your first year: Take core classes.
- Your second year: Try to finish, or nearly finish, your core requirements and take your civilizational sequence. You may also want to take a small number of history classes, but meet with a Preceptor or the Undergraduate Coordinator to make sure the classes are not designed for more advanced students.
- Your third year: Take as many history classes as you can fit into your schedule. This allows you to get a sampling of a wide variety of history courses, prepares you to write your B.A. essay and makes it far easier to complete all of you history requirements with the classes you are interested in. We encourage you take a History Colloquium (Hist. 296) this year. The colloquiums are offered on a variety of topics each year and enable advanced college students to pursue independent research.
- Your fourth year: Take the history senior seminar, finish the handful of remaining history classes you need to take, and take some electives. And enjoy your last year.
- Every year once you declare: See your Preceptor quarterly to talk over your program.
Petitioning For Credit:
- The History Departmental offers a wide variety of courses each quarter, and concentrators are encouraged to take History-based courses to fulfill the requirements of the concentration. In some instances, courses that originate outside the History Department can be used to fulfill the course requirements of the major (primarily within the elective field). To receive History credit for non-departmental courses, you must petition the Collegiate Affairs Committee for approval.
- Petitions must include a course description, a syllabus, and a statement of purpose that addresses the value of the course for the student's proposed course of study.
- All petitions must be approved by your preceptor before they are examined by the Chair of the Collegiate Affairs Committee.
- Courses taken abroad also may be used towards the major pending approval of the petition. Petitions must include course syllabus and description.
- Generally, no more than two petition per student will be approved.
Study Abroad:
The History Department strongly supports study abroad, however because of the B.A. essay requirement requires students to take the two-quarter Senior Seminar, History concentrators must be in residence during the fall and winter quarters of their senior year. The junior year is the ideal time for study abroad, and many students use this experience to define and in some cases begin work on their B.A. essays. Coursework taken abroad is eligible to fulfill requirements in the major, pending approval of a petition. Be sure to keep the course syllabus, description, and coursework.