All students are required to take one (1) history course from a menu of approved history courses.
History Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes
Syllabi for courses designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies History requirement must provide course content that enables students to achieve the Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes identified below. Course proposals may identify additional objectives from the list of Expected Undergraduate Student Learning Outcomes as appropriate to the course content.
Informed Learners understand nature and society through forms of inquiry fundamental to the sciences, the humanities, and the arts. Learners are informed by knowledge and ways of knowing that extend beyond core concepts enabling them to link theory and practice.
As Informed Learners, students will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- the past and present from historical, philosophical, and/or social perspectives.
- the interrelationships within and across cultures and global communities.
Empowered Learners are critical thinkers who demonstrate intellectual agility and creativity and the ability to manage or create change. They are able to derive meaning from experience and observation. They communicate well in diverse settings and employ various strategies to solve problems. They are empowered through mastery of intellectual and practical skills.
As Empowered Learners, students will demonstrate:
- ease with textual, visual, and/or electronically-mediated literacies.
- information literacy skills, including the ability to access, evaluate, interpret, and use information from a variety of sources.
- the ability to transform information into knowledge and knowledge into judgment and action.
- critical thinking skills, including analysis, application, and evaluation.
- reflective thinking and the ability to synthesize information and ideas.
Responsible Learners are engaged citizens of a diverse democratic society who have a deep sense of social responsibility and ethical judgment. They are responsible for their personal actions and civic values.
As Responsible Learners, students will demonstrate:
- intellectual honesty.
- an understanding of the ethical and behavioral consequences of decisions and actions on themselves, on society, and on the physical world.
- an understanding of themselves and a respect for the identities, histories, and cultures of others.
History Required Course Content
Proposals for courses designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies History requirement must:
- treat several different aspects of history and their interrelationships, e.g., political history, economic history, cultural history.
- treat concepts, themes, and events in sufficient depth to enable students to appreciate the complexity of what is being studied, and not be merely cursory coverage of lists of topics.
- suggest major intellectual questions/problems which interest practitioners of the discipline and explore critically important theories and principles presented by the discipline.
- allow students to understand and apply the methods of inquiry and vocabulary commonly used in the discipline.
- make students aware of various and sometimes contradictory historical interpretations.
- communicate the importance of primary sources which express the thinking of men and women of different ages.
Additionally, individuals proposing courses designed to fulfill the Liberal Studies History requirement are encouraged to include content that will:
- develop students' historical consciousness; that is, an understanding of the interrelationship of various aspects of culture at a given time and an ability to explore continuity and change among historical events and movements
- enable students to perceive contemporary experiences in historical perspective