Major or Minor in History

Avila's history program emphasizes the acquisition of a breadth of historical knowledge and the research skills of historical scholarship that encompass the fields of United States and World history. The history curriculum incorporates multiple perspectives and methodological approaches to human history, thus capturing the experiences of the rich and poor, the powerful and oppressed in the past. A major in history prepares students for a variety of opportunities. Traditional professions for historians have been teaching in secondary schools, but other possibilities exist in historical preservation, archival work, and museum curatorship. The study of history has also seen as an appropriate preparation for graduate study in law and information management/ library studies.

Major in History
Minor in History
Major Program Outcomes

Major in History (33 semester hours)

Candidates for the Bachelor of Arts degree in History must complete all the general degree requirements as stated in the college catalog. In addition, history majors must complete CS 110 Understanding Computers to fulfill the college's computer literacy requirement. Lastly, senior history majors must pass a departmental comprehensive examination in history (one section focusing on United States history, the other pertaining to World history).

The following history courses (33 hours) must be completed for the major:

Core Courses (12 semester hours)

•HI 111C World Civilizations I and HI 112C World Civilizations II
•HI 121C American Experience I or HI 122C American Experience II
•HI 499C Senior Thesis

United States History (9 semester hours)

•HI 321 Revolutionary America, to 1815 or HI 322C Life in the New Republic, 1815-1850
•HI 323 The Civil War Era, 1850-1877 or HI 324 The Machine Age, 1877-1914
•HI 325 The United States in War and Peace, 1914-1945 or HI 326C The United States since 1945 or HI/WS 311 American Women in the 20th Century

World History (9 semester hours)

•HI 361C Ancient Mysteries or HI 362C Conquest and Colonization
•HI 363C Nationalism and Tradition or HI 364C World Communism
•HI 365C Era of World Wars or HI 366C Modern Germany

Electives (3 semester hours)

Any upper-level United States history course (3 hours).

Minor in History (18 semester hours)

18 semester hours of which six must be in upper-division United States and six in upper-division World history.

Major Program Outcomes

At the completion of the program, history majors are expected to be able to:

1. Identify major periods in United States and World history and characterize those periods according to economic structures and relationships, political structures and relationships, social structures and social values, religious structures and belief-systems, and the nature of trans-cultural and trans-national relationships.

2. Demonstrate understanding of the process, nature, and causes of continuity and change over time, weighing the effects of economic, political, socio-cultural, and ideological factors.

3. Demonstrate an understanding of the effects of race, gender, class, ethnicity, and religion on the experiences of ordinary and extraordinary people of the past.

4. Identify the major issues and interpretive models used by historians in their analysis of the past.

5. Produce an original piece of historical scholarship using both primary sources and the appropriate secondary literature.