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History, B.A.

The Major in History

Professor Ricky Law, Director of Undergraduate Studies, History Department
Location: Baker Hall 238B, 412-268-2880, rlaw@andrew.cmu.edu

Dr. Alexandra Garnhart-Bushakra, Academic Program Manager, History Department
Location: Baker Hall 240G, 412-268-1260, agarnhar@andrew.cmu.edu

Ms. Beth Jameson, M.A., Academic Advisor and Humanities Coordinator, History Department
Location: Baker Hall 240A, 412-268-5666, bjameson@andrew.cmu.edu

https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/history/undergraduate

Overview

History (HIS) is a research- and writing-intensive major that emphasizes analysis of change over time and in-depth understanding of the societies, cultures, economies, political systems and conflicts that have shaped our world. History electives focus on areas of faculty expertise such as science, technology, race, culture, public health, environment, gender, labor, war, politics, sports, education, and criminal justice.

All majors take Introduction to Historical Research & Writing (79-200, 9 units) and the capstone Advanced Seminar in History (79-420, 12 units), where they conduct individualized projects using archival and other primary sources. Several students have published the results of their research, and we are exploring new ways to facilitate future publication of students’ research in both undergraduate and professional history journals.

The broad analytic, research, and writing skills cultivated by the History major prepare students for success in a wide variety of graduate and professional schools, and for exercising leadership in careers in business, law, government, education, journalism, public policy, social work, the armed services, Foreign Service, media, museums and libraries. Often, history graduates pursue post-undergraduate professional school, such as law, business administration, education, public policy, urban planning, librarianship, journalism, the ministry, and social work.

For students interested in pursuing a professional career in History, options today include not only research and teaching -- our graduates have earned Ph.D. degrees at Harvard, Northwestern, and other major universities -- but also expert positions as historians in museums, archives, historic sites, the armed services, media outlets, and other public history venues.

History may be elected as a primary or an additional major; the requirements for each are the same.

Curriculum

All students in the History major are required to complete two reading- and writing-intensive courses: Introduction to Historical Research & Writing (79-200, 9 units), and Advanced Seminar in History (79-420, 12 units), which is regularly offered in the Fall semester of the senior year. Students must earn a final grade of “C” or better in these two courses in order to fulfill the requirements for the History major.

Students in the History major are also required to take at least one of the following general education courses: Genocide and Weapons of Mass Destruction (79-145, 9 units) Introduction to the History of Science (79-160, 9 units), or Democracy and History: Thinking Beyond the Self (79-189, 9 units).  In addition, students must take two historical survey courses from a wide range of attractive options that include most major regions of the world.  Otherwise, students enjoy great flexibility: they are free to take additional survey courses or to specialize in thematic topics or regions of the world that are of special interest to them. 

Students may “double-count” a maximum of four courses for the History major that are used to fulfill the requirements of other majors and programs--with the notable exception of the Ethics, History, and Public Policy major, for which a student can double-count a maximum of two courses.

The Major in History93 units

I. Required General Education Course9 units
Units
79-145Genocide and Weapons of Mass Destruction9
79-160Introduction to the History of Science9
79-189Democracy and History: Thinking Beyond the Self9
II. Required History Department Courses21 units
79-200Introduction to Historical Research & Writing9
79-420Advanced Seminar in History12
III. Required Survey Courses (choose two)18 units
79-110Introduction to the Medieval Mediterranean World9
79-112Introduction to Asian American History9
79-116Introduction to the Modern Middle East9
79-120Introduction to African American History: Black Americans and the World9
79-170Introduction to Science, Technology, and Society9
79-174Introduction to Latin America9
79-202Flesh and Spirit: Early Modern Europe, 1400-17509
79-203The Other Europe: The Habsburgs, Communism, & Central/Eastern Europe, 1740-19909
79-204American Environmental History9
79-20520th Century Europe9
79-206Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Europe9
79-211Modern Southeast Asia: Colonialism, Capitalism, and Cultural Exchange9
79-212Jim Crow America9
79-223Mexico: From the Aztec Empire to the Drug War9
79-225West African History in Film9
79-226African History: Earliest Times to 17809
79-227Modern Africa: The Slave Trade to the End of Apartheid9
79-240U.S. History and Culture9
79-241The Holocaust: What You Should Know and Why9
79-242African American History: Reconstruction to the Present9
79-245Capitalism and Individualism in American Culture9
79-246War, Genocide, and Gender in Modern Europe9
79-248U.S. Constitution & the Presidency9
79-24920th Century U.S. History9
79-250Voting Rights: An Introduction9
79-255Modern Ireland: Politics and Culture from the Famine (1847) to Today9
79-260Nazi Germany: A Practical History9
79-261The Last Emperors: Chinese History and Society, 1600-19009
79-262Modern China: From the Birth of Mao ... to Now9
79-265Russian History: Game of Thrones9
79-266Russian History and Revolutionary Socialism9
79-269Russian History: From Socialism to Capitalism9
79-270Anti-Semitism Then and Now: Perspectives from the Middle Ages to the Present9
79-272Coexistence and Conflict: Muslims, Christians and Jews in Spain and Portugal9
79-288Bananas, Baseball, and Borders: Latin America and the United States9
79-320Women, Politics, and Protest9
79-329Introduction to Queer Studies9
IV. History Elective Courses45 units

Students must complete 45 elective History units (typically 5 courses) for the History major. Any History Department courses not fulfilling another major requirement may be chosen as an elective.

History majors have considerable flexibility in choosing their elective courses, but should consult with the Academic Advisor, Beth Jameson, History Department, Baker Hall 240A, in making their selections.  

For a complete list of elective course options in History, please consult the History course descriptions elsewhere in this catalog. The selections below are designed to give you a sense of the great variety of thematically centered courses (in addition to the survey courses listed earlier) that History Faculty members regularly teach:

79-115Introduction to Jewish Studies9
79-122Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations9
79-150Medieval Science, Magic, and Wonders of Nature9
79-153Ancient Rome: How Often Should You Think About It?9
79-155Introduction to African American Studies9
79-175Moneyball Nation: Data in American Life9
79-178Equality Under the Law9
79-201Introduction to Anthropology9
79-207Asian American History through the Novel9
79-208Witchcraft and Witch-Hunting9
79-210Identity, Ethnicity, and Place in Modern China9
79-218Tiananmen Square and Popular Protest in Modern China6
79-220Screening Mexico: Mexican Cinema, 1898 to Present9
79-221From Compton to Kabul: Sound, Power, and Global History9
79-234Technology and Society9
79-236Gender and Sexuality in Eastern Europe9
79-237Comparative Slavery9
79-239Theories of Nationalism9
79-243The Civil War in American Memory6
79-247African Americans, Imprisonment, and the Carceral State9
79-252"Harriet": Harriet Tubman, Slavery, and the Underground Railroad6
79-255Modern Ireland: Politics and Culture from the Famine (1847) to Today9
79-256Introduction to Masculinity Studies9
79-257Germany and the Second World War9
79-260Nazi Germany: A Practical History9
79-264Tibet and China: History and Propaganda9
79-267The Soviet Union in World War II: Military, Political, and Social History9
79-268World War I: The Twentieth Century's First Catastrophe9
79-273Jews & Arabs: From the Time of Muhammad to the Present9
79-276Beyond the Border9
79-278How (Not) to Change the World9
79-280Coffee and Capitalism9
79-281Introduction to Religion9
79-283Anthropology of Energy9
79-289Animal Planet: An Environmental History of People and Animals9
79-290The Slave Passage: From West Africa to the Americas9
79-292China and the West9
79-296Religion in American Politics6
79-297Technology and Work9
79-298Guns, Gun Cultures, and Gun Violence in American History6
79-300History of U.S. Immigration Policy9
79-302Killer Robots? The Ethics, Law, and Politics of Drones and A.I. in War9
79-303Pittsburgh and the Transformation of Modern Urban America9
79-304History of Eugenics and Scientific Racism9
79-305Global Perspectives in LGBTQ+ History9
79-313"Unwanted": Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Patterns of Global Migration6
79-314How Do We Remember? The Politics and Cultures of Memory9
79-315The Politics of Water in Global Perspective9
79-316Photography, the First 100 Years, 1839-19399
79-317Art, Anthropology, and Empire9
79-318Sustainable Social Change: History and Practice9
79-319India Through Film9
79-322Stalin and the Great Terror9
79-328Photographers and Photography Since World War II9
79-330Medicine and Society: Health, Healers, and Hospitals9
79-331Body Politics: Women and Health in America9
79-338History of Education in America9
79-339Juvenile Delinquency & Film: From Soul of Youth (1920) to West Side Story (1961)6
79-340Juvenile Delinquency & Film: From "Boyz N the Hood" (1991) to "The Wire" (2008)6
79-342Age of Crusading, 1000-20009
79-343Education, Democracy, and the Arts9
79-345Roots of Rock & Roll9
79-346U.S. Political Films and Satire9
79-350Early Christianity9
79-352Christianity Divided: The Protestant and Catholic Reformations, 1450-16509
79-355Fake News: "Truth" in the History of American Journalism6
79-357Science and the Body6
79-359Truth, Lies, and Conspiracies9
79-360Crime, Policing, and the Law: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives9
79-363The Rise of Modern Golf, 1860 to Present9
79-368Un-natural Disasters: Societies and Environmental Hazards in Global Perspective6
79-371African American Urban History9
79-373Culture and Revolution: The Socialist Experiment in Soviet Russia6
79-377Food, Culture, and Power: A History of Eating9
79-378Gender in South Asia9
79-379Experimental Ethnography9
79-380Hostile Environments: The Politics of Pollution in Global Perspective9
79-383The History of Capitalism9
79-385Out of Africa: The Making of the African Diaspora9
79-387Battle Ground of Ideologies: The Spanish Civil War and Legacies of Fascism9
79-392Europe and the Islamic World9
79-393Institutions of the Roman Church9
79-395The Arts in Pittsburgh9

Sample Curriculum

First-YearSecond-Year
FallSpringFallSpring
79-145 Genocide and Weapons of Mass Destruction or 79-189, Democracy and History: Thinking Beyond the SelfHIS Survey Course HIS Survey Course HIS Elective Course
First-Year Writing Requirement36-200 Reasoning with DataGeneral Education CourseGeneral Education Course
Grand Challenge SeminarGeneral Education CourseGeneral Education CourseThird Course (open)
General Education CourseFourth Course (open)Fourth Course (open)Fourth Course (open)
General Education CourseFifth Course (open)Fifth Course (open)Fifth Course (open)
99-101 Core@CMU

Third-YearFourth-Year
FallSpringFallSpring
79-200 Introduction to Historical Research & WritingHIS Elective Course79-420 Advanced Seminar in HistoryHIS Elective Course
HIS Elective CourseHIS Elective CourseSecond Course (open) Second Course (open)
General Education CourseGeneral Education CourseThird Course (open) Third Course (open)
General Education CourseFourth Course (open)Fourth Course (open) Fourth Course (open)
Fifth Course (open)Fifth Course (open)Fifth Course (open) Fifth Course (open)

The table above represents a four-year plan for completing all requirements for the History Major. Students may declare the major and begin course requirements as early as the second semester of their first year. Students should meet with the department’s Academic Advisor, Beth Jameson, Department of History, Baker Hall 240A, for both short- and long-term course planning.

* Some History majors choose to apply for the senior honors thesis program. The department strongly encourages students to take advantage of this option.

V. Courses in Other Departments that Satisfy History Elective Requirements(up to 27 units)

Students may satisfy the elective requirements in History with up to 27 units of the following courses offered by other departments in Dietrich College:

76-230Literature & Culture in the 19th Century9
76-239Introduction to Film Studies9
76-295Russian Cinema: From the Bolshevik Revolution to Putin's Russia9
80-135Introduction to Political Philosophy9
80-226The Nature of Scientific Revolutions9
80-335Social and Political Philosophy9
82-245New Directions in Hispanic Studies9
82-247US Latinos Literature9
82-293Russian Cinema: From the Bolshevik Revolution to Putin's Russia9
82-327The Emergence of the German Speaking World9
82-427Nazi and Resistance Culture9
84-275Comparative Politics9
84-322Nonviolent Conflict and Revolution9
84-324The Future of Democracy9
84-325Contemporary American Foreign Policy9
84-362Diplomacy and Statecraft9
84-380US Grand Strategy9
84-386The Privatization of Force9
84-389Terrorism and Insurgency9
88-234Negotiation: International Focus9
88-281Topics in Law: 1st Amendment9
88-284Topics of Law: The Bill of Rights9
VI. History Internship3-9 units
79-505Social & Political History Internship3-9

The History program strongly encourages students to locate internship opportunities in Pittsburgh or elsewhere that complement their historical interests (as, for example, in a museum or historical society) or in areas of policy research that complement their historical interests (as, for example, in a government agency or non-profit organization). The Academic Program Manager, Dr. Alexandra Garnhart-Bushakra, will assist students with matching their interests to local organizations. History students can earn up to 9 units in each internship. Up to 9 history internship credits may count toward fulfillment of elective course requirements for the History major.

VII. Additional Major in History

The History Major may be scheduled as an additional major in consultation with the Academic Advisor, Beth Jameson, History Department, Baker Hall 240A.  To reiterate, the requirements for History as either a primary or an additional major are the same.

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