CHANGE IN A DEGREE, MAJOR, OR SUBMAJOR
Check Exactly One:
| Change in: | Degree | Major |
x
|
Submajor | ||
| Deletion of: | Major | Submajor |
|
21
|
Before Change |
24
|
After Change |
|
Program Title:
|
History Minor |
|
Sponsor(s):
|
Seth Meisel, Elizabeth Hachten |
|
Department(s):
|
History |
|
College(s):
|
Letters and Sciences |
|
Other Programs Affected:
|
None |
|
Effective Term:
|
Fall 2001 |
FROM:
MINOR - 21 CREDITS
HISTORY MINOR – 24 CREDITS
B. GEOGRAPHICAL/THEMATIC BREADTH . SELECT AT LEAST 3 CREDITS IN EACH OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS
II. Relationship to mission and strategic plan of institution, and/or
College/Department goals and objectives:
The History minor is a traditional part of the liberal arts offerings
of the College of Letters and Sciences. 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 core course as the only introductory American history course offered
on campus.
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 (including in U.S. history).
The department has taken this opportunity to strengthen the history minor 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 minor allows students a great deal of choice in building their program and especially in determining an area of concentration. 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.
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
minor requirements assumed that all prospective minors would have already
taken this introductory course in American history. Because this can no
longer be assumed, the newly designed minor places a new emphasis on introductory
survey courses (100-level courses). In particular, introductory surveys
in American history, which have not been part of the minor program since
1994, have been re-introduced into the curriculum. The revised minor 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 minor devoted to upper-level courses.
The new minor therefore provides a more important place for introductory courses, expanding the number of credits that may be earned in 100-level courses from the current six-credit maximum to 6-9 credits, in order to provide students 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 minors, 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 students, who come to the minor with a wide range of interests, career goals, and previous exposure to the discipline.
The newly redesigned minor 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 requirement 4-iv provides 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 minor, the new minor 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.
IV. Cost implications: No cost implications as all course offerings are already part of the History Department faculty members' current course rotations.