History (HIS)

This is a draft edition of the 2024-2025 catalog. Information contained within is subject to change.

HIS 120  Modern World History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: A survey of the political, social, and economic history of the world (Europe, Africa, Middle East, India, Far East, and Latin America) from 1815 to the present.

CORE 42: MOTR HIST 202; World History II (attribute MO11)

HIS 140  American History to 1865     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.

Course Description: Pre-contact and colonial North America; the American Revolution; early national political, economic, and religious developments; western expansion and sectionalism; and the U.S. Civil War.

CORE 42: MOTR HIST 101; American History I (attribute MO12)

HIS 150  American History since 1865     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.

Course Description: Continuation of HIS 140. Reconstruction, industrialization, urbanization, emergence as a world power, progressivism, World War I, the New Deal, World War II, and postwar America.

CORE 42: MOTR HIST 102; American History II (attribute MO12)

HIS 200  Ancient and Medieval Civilization     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.

Course Description: The western world from antiquity to the fifteenth century; the emergence of civilization in the Nile and Tigris-Euphrates valleys; the political, social, economic, and intellectual contributions of Greece, Rome, and medieval Europe.

CORE 42: MOTR WCIV 101; Western Civilization I (attribute MO52)

HIS 210  Early Modern Europe     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.

Course Description: Europe within a global context c. 1400-1800; the Renaissance, the emergence of global commerce, the establishment of European overseas empires, the Protestant Reformation, the Wars of Religion, the rise of constitutional and absolutist states, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution.

CORE 42: MOTR WCIV 102; Western Civilization II (attribute MO52)

HIS 230  Modern Europe: 1789 to the Present     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Fall, Spring.

Course Description: The French Revolution and Napoleonic periods; reaction, nationalism, and revolution; rise of socialism; imperialism; World War I; the Russian Revolutions and Soviet communism; the rise of fascism; Hitler, Stalin, and World War II; the Holocaust; the postwar bi-polar world order; the bloc system.

CORE 42: MOTR WCIV 102; Western Civilization II (attribute MO52)

HIS 300  American Colonial History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: The founding of North American colonies by Spain, France, and Great Britain; cross-cultural interactions between Europeans and Native Americans; race and slavery; religious diversity; economic growth; imperial conflicts; British colonial administration and the path to Revolution.

HIS 301  Early National Period     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Transition from colonial settings to constitutional republic; birth of political parties; Jeffersonian republicanism; Native American conflicts; race and slavery; women's expanded opportunities; War of 1812; economic growth and transportation innovations; Jacksonian democracy.

HIS 302  Antebellum America     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Postwar expansion; rise of American nationalism and the growth of the West; revival of the two-party system; Jacksonian democracy; humanitarian crusades; the Mexican War.

HIS 305  The American Frontier     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Westward expansion of the United States over three centuries; colonial frontier, trans-Appalachian frontier, trans-Mississippi frontier; significance of the frontier in American history.

HIS 306  American Women's History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: This course provides an introduction to the study of women in American history from the colonial era through the 20th century, with particular emphasis on the everyday experiences of ordinary women, including women's work, family life, religious experiences, health, and sexuality.

HIS 308  African American History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: This course surveys major themes in African American History starting with enslavement through the Long Civil Rights movement of the 20th century. Will focus on how freedom expanded and contracted for African Americans as well as the various strategies of protest and self-expression they used to gain equality and justice.

HIS 311  Race, Science, and Medicine in American History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: This course explores the complex relationship of medicine and science in the construction of race in American history. Will explore the concept of race in early anthropology, monogenism and polygenism, enslavement, eugenics, and the rise of IQ and DNA testing among other topics.

HIS 325  American Economic History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: English mercantilism, laissez-faire and its effect on American economic development, the emergence of the corporation and the trust, the issue of government regulation, and the role of the government in the economy of today.

HIS 330  Recent United States History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: United States since 1945; wartime mobilization; rise of American hegemony; Cold War anticommunism; Civil rights; suburbanization; gender politics; cultural rebellions; Great Society; Conservative ascendency; Globalization; war on terror, Great Recession.

HIS 345  Military History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Spring (even-numbered years).

Course Description: An American history course from the pre-settlement period to the present, with concentration on the developments of military organization, technology, leadership, heritage, war objectives and strategies, and the American public's relationship with its military. This course aligns with federal ROTC requirements and objectives. Prerequisite(s): ROTC students only.

HIS 365  Methods of Teaching Social Studies     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Fall.

Course Description: Principles and methods of teaching social studies in secondary school: objectives, problems, materials, and methods applied to the social studies curriculum. Methods include electronic portfolio, website technology, and traditional lesson plans/unit plans for each discipline involved. Those disciplines include economics, geography, government and political science, history, psychology, and sociology. Prerequisite(s): Departmental approval. Must be taken prior to Junior Teaching Experience.

HIS 375  The American Revolution     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Imperial-colonial conflicts; declaring independence; political, social, economic, religious, and military considerations of war; the Confederation period; constitutional drafting and ratification.

HIS 380  The French Revolution and Napoleon     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Old Regime France; the origins of the French Revolution; political, social, religious, and cultural reforms; political shifts from monarchy to republic to dictatorship; popular and state-sanctioned violence; counter-revolution; the Terror; the Directory; the rise of Napoleon; the Napoleonic Wars; the impact of the French Revolution and Napoleon on the world.

HIS 383  European Colonialism and Imperialism     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: This course examines the impact that European colonialism and imperialism had on Europe and the world between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. We will begin with an examination of first contact between Europe and the Americas. We will then examine the evolution of European colonies during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The next stage of the course will examine the decline of the early modern colonial empires in the face of revolutionary movements and the rise of the new imperialism in the nineteenth century. The course will conclude with an examination of the decline of European states as imperial powers in the twentieth century and the legacy and long-term impact of European colonialism and imperialism.

HIS 385  United States Constitutional History     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: An examination of the social, economic, political, and legal developments related to the United States Constitution; emphasis on constitutional foundings, balance of federal and state authorities, protection of individual liberties, and racial and gender equality.

HIS 390  Heresy, Witchcraft, and Magic in Pre-Modern Europe     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Examines the evolution of religious beliefs and practices in pre-modern Europe. Particular attention is given to how definitions of heresy, witchcraft, and magic changed over time and methods used by Church and State to enforce religious conformity.

HIS 400  Civil War and Reconstruction     Credits: 3

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Westward expansion; U.S.-Mexican War; sectional crises and coming of the Civil War; slavery and abolition; political, social, and economic developments in the Civil War; African-American freedom; political, social, and economic effects of the nation's reconstruction.

HIS 450  Independent Research/Project     Credits: 1-5

Typically Offered: Departmental Discretion.

Course Description: Investigation of a research problem, project, or topic on an individual conference basis. May be repeated for up to six credit hours. Prerequisite(s): Department approval.