History
Introduction
The faculty of the History program believes that all persons, whatever their selected role in life, require an understanding of their past in order to prepare for their future. The faculty firmly believes that the liberal arts preparation, which encompasses courses from the discipline of history, provides the student with the most appropriate educational background for lifelong learning by integrating knowledge from the broadest range of disciplines. Further, the skills developed through the study of history (critical and analytical thinking, research, communication and presentation) are key to success, regardless of career field or pursuit. It is the mission of the faculty in the History program at LaGrange College to facilitate the growth of students’ critical, analytical, creative and communicative faculties and skills through curricular and co-curricular methods in an ethical and caring environment.
Students who complete a major course of study in History will have the foundation knowledge, understanding of the discipline, and skills necessary to provide them with the opportunity to succeed regardless of chosen field.
What professional/career options are available for a History major?
Recent LaGrange College History alumni have successfully:
- earned graduate degrees in Humanities disciplines including
- History
- Public History/Museum Studies
- Religion
- Classics
- earned professional degrees in selected fields of study including law, Education, and business
- Recent graduates have studied law at:
- Mercer University Law School
- University of Georgia
- Cumberland School of Law
- Recent graduates have studied law at:
- Pursued careers in public and private sector fields including:
- Government civil service (Local, State, Federal)
- Military/Intelligence service
- Education (K-12, Higher Education)
- Historic documentation and preservation/archival management
- Business/Finance et al Private Sector industries
- Research and analysis
- NGO et al non profit service
In all of these endeavors, our graduates have found that their education has provided a foundation for their careers and for their growth in life.
Program Objectives
The History Faculty strives to:
- Provide students opportunities through its curricular and co-curricular programming to develop their appreciation for and understanding of the complex nature of the human past.
- Provide students an opportunity to gain a deeper appreciation of the liberal arts and history’s contribution to it.
- Provide students with opportunities to improve their creative, critical, and communicative abilities through both curricular and co-curricular programs.
- Encourage student engagement within the discipline through curricular and co-curricular programming that occurs in an ethical and caring environment.
Student Learning Objectives
To achieve the mission and objectives set forth above, all courses seek to help each student ultimately demonstrate:
- grounding in and familiarity with basic historical narratives;
- ability to master and analyze primary sources;
- awareness of historiography and the ability to critically assess it;
- capacity to creatively synthesize material from a variety of sources;
- mastery of oral, written, and electronic communication skills;
- facility in locating and critically assessing both digital and print source materials.
Assessment of Student Learning Objectives
Students graduating with degrees in history are required to successfully complete the capstone senior history seminar in which they research and defend a senior thesis. Through the seminar's requirements, students demonstrate their mastery of the major’s objectives.Course of Study
The History program offers both a major and minor course of study in history.
Those wishing to major in History are encouraged to declare their major no later than the beginning of the spring semester of their sophomore year.
Phi Alpha Theta
The history department is home to an active chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. It is open to students of any major who meet the following requirements: a 3.0 GPA overall, a 3.1 GPA in history courses, and a minimum of 12 hours of history courses completed.
Combined B.A. and M.A.T. Program of Study
Undergraduate students who meet the admission requirements for the M.A.T (passing GACE Program Admissions Assessment or a combined SAT score of more than 1000 and completing the Georgia Code of Ethics for Educators Assessment) and those who have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in their undergraduate studies are eligible to participate in a combined B.A. and M.A.T. program of study after the completion of 90 semester hours. Once accepted, candidates may take entering MAT cohort graduate courses the Summer Semester following their junior year of study. Upon gaining senior status, candidates may take one (1) three-credit graduate course during the fall and spring semesters only if enrolled with twelve (12) undergraduate credits.
Majors and Minors
Major Minor
B.A. in History Minor in HistoryCourses
Survey course on the development of world civilization up to 1660.
Survey course on the development of world civilization from 1660 to the present.
Emphasis on the Colonial, Revolutionary, early national, and Civil War periods.
Emphasis on Reconstruction, liberal nationalism, New Deal, and postwar periods.
This course considers the works of key figures in the history of strategic thinking, both on and off the battlefield. Figures studied include: Sun Tzu, Alexander of Macedon, Machiavelli, Clausewitz, Alfred Mahan, Mao Tse-Tung et al. The course can serve as part of the military history minor or must be taken as HIST 3200 to count as an elective in the History major.
This course is required of all history majors. It acquaints the student with the basic components of historical methodology and research.
A course offered at the first-year/sophomore level, focusing on a specialized topic in the field of history. Also offered as HIST 4499 for junior/senior level credit.
Military History Studies topics course offers students the opportunity to study not just warfare, its battlefield tactics and strategy, but the social, economic and political forces that shaped the specific conflict being examined. The courses seeks to encourage students to consider the human equation in all its complexity through a careful analysis of the specific conflict and its historical significance. Also offered as HIST 3500 for junior/senior level credit.
(1-6 Hours) An opportunity for students to gain added early applied experience and insight in approved off-campus settings. Internships consist of at least 40 working hours per credit hour in areas related to the discipline. Assignments may include selected readings, public presentation, and a final portfolio containing essays, weekly journal, and supporting material. Advisors, program coordinators, department chairs, and the internship coordinator (or designee) must approve the internship before a student begins their work. Internships will be taken as pass/no credit.
This course considers the works of key figures in the history of strategic thinking, both on and off the battlefield. Figures studied include: Sun Tzu, Alexander of Macedon, Machiavelli, Clausewitz, Alfred Mahan, Mao Tse-Tung et al. The course can serve as part of the military history minor when taken as HIST 2200 or must be taken as HIST 3200 to count as an elective in the History major.
This course provides an overview of public history, exploring the many arenas in which one can apply the practical use of historical research, analysis, writing, and presentation in non-teaching fields. Students learn what constitutes public history, understand the techniques and practices associated with it, and develop a critical assessment of the public history field and the contemporary issues facing public historians. The course also aims to improve students’ abilities to apply historical skills and knowledge, especially in their presentation of information to general audiences outside of academia.
A study of Greco-Roman civilization from its birth in ancient Greece through the collapse of the western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D.
This course offers a comprehensive study of the development of medieval civilization from the late fifth century to the late fourteenth century.
This introductory survey course will examine the development of Islam, its growth and diversification from its birth in seventh century C.E. Arabia through the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.
An analysis of fundamental constitutional development from 1776 to 1900.
An analysis of fundamental constitutional development from 1901 to the present.
A study of Georgia History from the pre-colonial period to the present, with emphasis on the historical, social, economic, and political development of the State.
This course examines the colonial history of British North America during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
This course examines the history of the United States over the course of the 1800s, tracing its developments from a fledgling nation, through internal divisions, to its rise as an industrial world power. Themes may include race, gender, Jeffersonian republicanism, popular democracy, territory and war, the frontier, expansion and imperialism, and industrialization.
This course offers a detailed study of the civilization of Renaissance and Reformation Europe. Primary focus is on the artistic and religious achievements of the period 1350 to 1600.
This course examines the institutional and cultural history of the medieval church, with special emphasis on the role of the papacy and its impact on medieval civilization.
A political, economic, social, and cultural history of England from 55 B.C. to 1689.
A political, economic, social, and cultural history of England from 1689 to the present.
A comprehensive survey of European history from the reign of Louis XIV through the rise of the modern German state in 1870.
A comprehensive survey of European history from the Bismarckian Era to the present.
A detailed examination of European international relations from 1890, the end of the Bismarkian system, to the present.
This course is a survey of Chinese history from the earliest historic periods to the close of the twentieth century and will cover a variety of topics throughout multiple periods in Chinese history including philosophies of Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, and Buddhism, Chinese statecraft, political and economic history, the intersections of society and commerce, gender, technology, agriculture, institutional history, diplomacy, and trends in Anglophone China historiography.
An intensive study of the United States during the twentieth century.
This service seminar combines a focused study of applied public history with service ‘in the field.’ Students will actively engage in public history by providing mentoring services to middle and high school students through the National History Day Program.
A study of historiography and research methods and materials.
A course offered at the junior/senior level, focusing on a specialized topic in the field of history.
