CHANGE IN A DEGREE, MAJOR, OR SUBMAJOR
Check Exactly One:
| Change in: | Degree |
x
|
Major | Submajor | ||
| Deletion of: | Major | Submajor |
|
33
|
Before Change |
36
|
After Change |
|
Program Title:
|
History (BA/BS) |
|
Sponsor(s):
|
Seth Meisel, Elizabeth Hachten |
|
Department(s):
|
History |
|
College(s):
|
Letters and Sciences |
|
Other Programs Affected:
|
None |
|
Effective Term:
|
Fall 2001 |
I. Exact description of request
FROM:
MAJOR - 33 CREDITS
TO:
HISTORY MAJOR - 36 CREDITS
*Depending on the semester's offering, this course may fulfill other geographic breadth requirements for the major.C. GEOGRAPHICAL/THEMATIC BREADTH. SELECT AT LEAST 3 CREDITS IN EACH OF THE THREE AREAS NOT CHOSEN FOR THE DEPTH REQUIREMENT.
- EUROPEAN HISTORY: HIST 740-154, 740-155, 740-333, 740-351, 740-352, 740-355, 740-367, 740-371, 740-372, 740-375, 740-380, 740-381, 740-451, 740-452, OR 740-460
- AFRICAN, ASIAN, LATIN AMERICAN, OR MIDDLE EASTERN HISTORY: HIST 740-130, 740-131, 740-340, 740-342, 740-343, 740-346, 740-347, 740-432, 740-433, AND 740-434
- U.S. HISTORY: HIST 740-124, 740-125, 740-141, 740-190, 740-300, 740-301, 740-302, 740-304, 740-305, 740-306, 740-307, 740-311, 740-313, 740-314, 740-316, 740-317, 740-324, 740-362, 740-390, 740-394, 740-401, 740-403 AND CHCN 615-310
- GLOBAL/COMPARATIVE: HIST 740-190,740-326, 740-333, 740-335, 740-367, 740-455*, 740-493
UNIQUE REQUIREMENT (5-6 CREDITS)
HONORS IN HISTORY:
Students must file an application for Honors in History with the Department
Chairperson during the first semester of their Senior year. Honors in History
can be earned by completing the following:
a. 3.5 or above GPA in the History majorII.Relationship to mission and strategic plan of institution, and/or College/ Department goals and objectives: The History major (BA/BS) is one of the traditional mainstays of the liberal arts offerings of the College of Letters and Sciences. Fully 40-50% of history majors choose this liberal arts program for their course of study. The History department last revised all its major and minor programs in 1994, when the introduction of the new core curriculum necessitated significant changes in history offerings. The changes were driven to a great extent by expediency in light of the heavy staffing demands placed on the history department by the need to service the required history core course (The U.S. Experience in World Context, 900-120. In particular, it forced a reduction in the number and variety of 100- level courses that the department was able to offer. The two-semester American history survey sequence had to be dropped, leaving the history core course as the only introductory American history course offered on campus.
b. Minimum of 3 History credits at the 400 level (in addition to 740-499).
The recent revisions in the core curriculum have necessitated yet another
overhaul of our majors and minors. The history core course is no longer
required of all students but is instead an alternative to Global Perspectives.
As a result, the history core course itself is becoming more global in
focus, and less of an American history course. It can no longer serve to
fill the gaps in our lower level offerings in U.S. history. Luckily, the
decreased demand for sections of the history core course makes it possible
for us to again offer a larger number and variety of 100-level courses
(especially in American history).
The department has taken this opportunity to strengthen the history
major to better fulfill departmental objectives and reflect current trends
in the teaching and study of history. The new program mandates broad exposure
to United States, European, and non-Western history in both the pre-modern
and modern eras (Departmental Subject Matter Objectives #1, #2, #4 and
Cognitive Development Objectives #2 and #3). At the same time, the relatively
open structure of the major allows students a great deal of choice in building
their program and especially in determining an area of concentration. This
depth requirement (12 credits within one geographically or thematically
defined area) is a brand-new feature designed to better implement the department’s
goal that history majors gain an in-depth knowledge of a limited historical
topic or period (Subject Matter Objective #3). Our history curriculum has
also been reinvigorated by the new prominence placed on global, comparative,
and interdisciplinary courses in the major, which reflects the cutting
edge of current historical practice. The revised major also maintains the
required two-course sequence of methodological courses: a sophomore-level
introduction to historical methods (740-200) and a capstone senior seminar
(740-499). History 200 provides a survey of the evolution of the discipline
of history and current trends in historiography, as well as an introduction
to fundamental skills in historical writing, research, and analysis (including
computer literacy) (Subject Matter Objective #5, Cognitive Development
Objective #1 and Skill Objective #1). Students’ abilities to locate, identify,
analyze, synthesize, and communicate pertinent historical data are reinforced
and enhanced through the independent research project that forms the heart
of the senior seminar (Cognitive Development Objective #1 and Skill Objective
#1).
III. Rationale:
As a result of revised General Education Requirements (March 15, 2000),
UW-Whitewater undergraduates, retroactive to fall 1994, are no longer required
to take U.S Experience in a World Context (900-120). The current
major requirements assumed that all prospective majors would have already
taken this introductory course in American history. Because this can no
longer be assumed, the newly designed major expands the number of required
introductory courses (100-level courses). In particular, introductory surveys
in American history, which have not been part of the major since 1994,
have been re-introduced into the curriculum. The revised major also adds
three credits to the total number required for completion of this program.
This change is actually a restoration of the three credits of American
history that were cut from the major in 1994 when the history core course
was made a required part of all Whitewater students’ training. Restoring
these three credits to the program allows us to increase the number of
required 100-level courses while maintaining the proportion of the major
devoted to upper-level and methods courses.
The new major therefore expands the number of credits that may be earned
in 100-level courses, from the current six-credit maximum to 9-12 credits,
in order to provide our majors with a firm grounding for their advanced
work in the discipline. The department is now committed to significantly
increasing the number of introductory courses that it offers. We are thus
in a position to be able to offer our majors much greater flexibility in
choosing a mix of lower and upper level courses in order to meet their
breadth and depth requirements. Thus, instead of requiring Western Civilization
(154) and Modern Europe (155) of all majors, students may elect
to take any offered lower level courses to fulfill their requirements.
An advising worksheet will aid them in determining that they meet the maximum
and minimum credits needed in all areas. This increased flexibility in
the program will help to meet the diverse needs of these majors, who come
to the major with a wide range of interests, career goals, and previous
exposure to the discipline.
The newly redesigned major reflects important changes in the way in
which the field of history and priorities in the training of undergraduates
have shifted in the last dozen years. The new requirements 5-B–iv and 5-C-iv
provide a place for comparative history courses that challenge students
to think about global themes and processes that cut across national boundaries.
This is in keeping with trends within the history profession towards more
global, comparative, and interdisciplinary teaching. While courses such
as Environmental History (740-190), From Newton to the Nuclear
Age: History of Western Science Since 1600 (740-333), or History
of Capitalism in the West (740-367), never fit in well in the previous
major, the new major recognizes the place of these courses in our department
curriculum as a logical extension of the comparative approach employed
in the U.S. Experience in a World Context (900-120) and as a needed
complement to our national period courses. This is an area that the department
envisions several new course offerings in the next few years.
One of the most significant directions taken in the new major is the Depth Requirement, 5-B. While the major continues to require that students take courses in the histories of different regions and time periods, it also requires that they an expertise in one field of study. Our methods course, Historical Analysis (740-200) now requires that students to pursue a significant historiographic project and the Senior Seminar (740-499) requires an original research project based on primary source materials. The depth requirement reinforces these two major requirements by giving students the background required in order to focus on a significant topic of their interest and thus apply the skills of critical analysis that these methods courses seek to enhance. Besides offering geographical emphases, we give students the option of self-designing a "thematic concentration" (5-B-iv); possible examples of courses that share a common thematic focus might be "World Revolutions" (740-432, 740-372, 740-375, 740-347), "The Colonial Atlantic World" (740-124, 740-324, 740-300, 740-342), or "Modern Social Movements" (740-315, 740-317, 740-352, 740-432).
Because of the multi-disciplinary nature of the study of history, the
major continues to require two-three credits in fine arts or literature
and three credits in the social sciences as unique requirements. The courses
that are approved to meet this requirement, however, have been significantly
broadened to include those courses that represent either important surveys
of world culture or introductions to social science methodologies. As the
majority of these courses are also approved for General Studies credit,
we believe that the unique requirement does not represent an additional
burden on students, but, with proper advising, merely guides them toward
those courses that best complement their major.
Finally, we have added a departmental honors program in order to encourage
and recognize outstanding achievement by students majoring in history.
IV. Cost implications: No cost implications as all course offerings are already part of the History Department faculty members' current course rotations.