HISTORY DEPARTMENT LEARNING GOALS
Successful history students can
A. Build KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING
1. Understand the process of change over time, both broadly (based on the study of human communities in a variety of times and places) and deeply (based on the intensive study of human communities in at least one time and place).
2. Discern the relationship between past and present, including especially the differences between them.
3. Demonstrate familiarity with the histories and historiographies of a range of cultures and chronological periods.
4. Acquire proficiency in a specialized historical and historiographical knowledge about selected regions or about comparative problems that span various cultures and times.
B. Develop ABILITIES and SKILLS
1. Generate sound arguments about historical causality.
2. Judge the soundness of historical arguments.
3. Read, understand, and critically assess scholarly articles and monographs, based on extensive training and experience.
4. Collect, assess, and interpret primary sources and other evidence.
5. Craft concise analytical essays and longer research papers.
6. Communicate orally with confidence.
C. Learn ATTITUDES and VALUES
1. See, from a humanistic perspective, individuals and communities as part of a larger temporal stream.
2. See, from a social-scientific perspective, human societies and cultures as evolving systems.
3. Recognize a civic responsibility to understand, interpret, communicate, and preserve the historical record.