Programs of Study

Requirements for the History Major and Minor

Degree Options: Bachelor of Arts in History

Program of Study: The History Major

Students need 39 credit hours in history to graduate with a History Major. Students may also apply up to 12 credit hours from a second major toward a History Double Major. In the 27 + 12 Track, students are required to take a minimum of 27 credit hours in History and 12 credit hours in a single related major. Approved disciplines of the Double Major include: Politics, International Relations, LPS, Philosophy and Religion, English, Culture and Society, Economics, Art History, Journalism, and Education. Consult with your advisor to determine other disciplines that may qualify. For example, students with majors in Biology, Psychology, and ENSP have also designed interdisciplinary Double Majors in History with their advisor’s approval. Courses from the related field should be numbered 100-level or above.

Introductory Classes (1-99)

HIST 1 and 2 Passages to the Modern World is required of all majors

Advanced Level Classes (100-149)

Students need a minimum of 6 credit hours of courses numbered from 100-149.

Colloquia (150-190)

Students need a minimum of 6 credit hours of courses numbered from 150-190.

Senior Seminar (Senior Capstone, 196-198)

Students must complete a 3 credit hour research seminar.

Students choose their remaining courses as history electives for both the traditional major and the 27 + 12 Track. This allows them to design their major based on their historical interests and professional aspirations.

Internship

Students can do an internship that will count as elective credit (from 1 to 3 credits, depending on the nature of the internship).

By the end of the fall semester of their junior year, majors who have a minimum overall GPA of 3.25 and a minimum GPA in history of 3.5 qualify for the History Dept. Honors Program. Extending over the two semesters of the senior year, this program involves the completion of a major research project. Consult with the chair for more details.

The History Minor

Students must complete 21 credit hours, including 6 credit hours of Advanced Level courses and 6 credit hours of Colloquia. Students cannot apply credits from a related discipline toward their history minor.

Policy on number of hours someone can transfer in towards the major/minor

•Major: you have to take at least 15 hours here
•Minor: you ned to take 12 hours here

Internships

The Department of History recommends an internship as elective credit for the major. Internships are the department’s service learning or experiential learning component.

HISTORY 195 - Internship in History

The course is treated as an introduction to "public history." It is likely to be of greatest interest to history majors and minors who do not necessarily plan careers in education or law. However, prospective teachers who enrolled in it had excellent experiences. Although public history is properly a field for graduate study, undergraduates are often well served by learning about the field and gaining experiences through internships that might qualify them for entry-level history positions. Internships enable students to acquire experience in such history-related fields as journal editing, museum and archival work, and the collection and preservation of historical materials.

To earn three credits in the course (a range of one to three hours is possible), students engage in an internship of at least 100 on-site hours, maintain a log of their activities, and meet regularly with their internship supervisor. They also meet weekly with the professor in charge to review their internship experiences, discuss readings in public history appropriate to their interests, plan and review progress on a paper (usually 8-12 pages in length) related to their special interests in public history, and consider career options open to students of history.

Internship opportunities have included, but are not limited to the following:

State Capital/Legislative Intern
Living History Farms / Interpreter
State Historical Association of Iowa / Writer in Public Affairs
State Historical Society of Iowa / Office of Historic Preservation
State Historical Society of Iowa / Conservation
State Historical Society of Iowa / History Day
State Historical Society of Iowa / Office of the Registrar
State Historical Society of Iowa / Education Department
State Historical Society of Iowa / Archives
State Historical Society of Iowa / Library
Gold Star Museum at Camp Dodge (Iowa National Guard)
Library at Fort Des Moines
Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion/Tour Guide

Learning Outcomes

The History Department has developed five learning outcomes for our majors.

Students attain global perspectives of the fundamental forces that have shaped the modern world.
Students learn about the historical processes, people, and events that have contributed significantly to national, regional, and global change.
Students develop the knowledge and skills to become engaged global citizens by studying societies and cultures other than their own.
Students understand the lived realities of power and wealth differentials between industrialized nations and developing nations.
Students develop critical reasoning, and effective verbal and written communication skills.

In upper division courses, students also learn how to do the following:

Learning Outcomes for Advanced Level Surveys, including HIST 100-149

Students develop expertise in an area of concentration (U.S., European, African, Latin American, Asian, Greek and Roman, or Comparative Women’s History)
Students utilize historical knowledge in comparative contexts and make connections across disciplines.
Students learn to analyze primary source documents and relate them to larger historical processes.
Students access, evaluate, and utilize information from traditional and web-based electronic resources.
Students write persuasive historical arguments.

Learning Outcomes for Colloquia, including HIST 150-190

Students analyze complex historical problems and examine periods of pronounced change in depth.
Students understand the complex, multi-vocal, and controversial nature of historical writing and debate.
Students improve their abilities to work collaboratively in teams and small groups.

Learning Outcomes for the Senior Seminars (Capstone), Internships, and Independent Studies, including HIST 195-199

Students will evaluate a historical problem using primary source documents, compare historical theories, and develop their own interpretation with relevant evidence.
Students gain professional experience in a variety of supervised internship possibilities.
Students commit to life-long learning, engaged citizenship, and professional achievement.