Upper Division Courses

Spring 2025 - On Campus Course Descriptions

* = Honors section offered

HIST ST3001
Teaching Historical Thinking – Dr. Susan O’Donovan
TR 1:00-2:25 pm MI 203

pepermint

Peppermint Patty deserves better than this. So do all our secondary-level students.
Join me this spring as we explore how, in doing history, we teach history.

Have you considered a career in history education? Then this is the class for you. Starting with how students learn and what it is that historians really do, we will talk, a lot: about the difference between teaching history and teaching historical thinking, about the roles of assessments and goals, about how to lead an authentic discussion, about how to teach your students how to unleash their own minds, and above all, how to design your own courses. My goal being to prepare you for one of the most overlooked and underrated careers: teaching a new generation how to understand and learn from the past. - Back.

HIST 3070
Conspiracy Theories in America – Dr. Scott Marler
MW 2:30-3:45 pm MI 203

Conspiracy theories have become increasingly mainstream in the United States over the last half-century or so, especially on the political Right. This course will situate such folklore about power in historical contexts, demonstrating how exaggerated fears of conspiracy and subversion have been a persistent theme in American political culture since the Revolutionary era. We will examine a variety of conspiracy scares throughout U.S. history, but we will also aim to develop a better understanding of the social psychologies, latent functions, and authoritarian proclivities of what one historian famously termed “the paranoid style in American politics.” A good background in U.S. history (esp. HIST 2010 and HIST 2020) and current affairs is recommended for this upper-division course. - Back.

HIST 3201*
History of the Caribbean – Dr. Andrew Daily
MW 12:40-2:05 pm MI 209

Introduction to the social, economic, political, and cultural history of the Caribbean. Major themes and events studied include European conquest and colonization after 1492; transatlantic slavery and plantation societies in the 17th and 18th centuries; revolution and nation-building beginning in the late 18th century; 20th century decolonizations; and contemporary issues of migration and globalization. - Back.

HIST 3302*
Modern Europe 1800-Present – Dr. Daniel Unowsky
TR 9 :40-11:05 am MI 209

This course will acquaint you with the major political, social, economic, and cultural forces which have shaped Modern Europe. We will pursue a chronological perspective and highlight the French, Agricultural, and Industrial Revolutions, imperialism, the Russian Revolution, communism and fascism, the two world wars, the Holocaust, and the rise and fall of the Cold War. We will also turn our attention to the nineteenth century development of the notions of nation, class, gender, and race, and to the often tragic fate of these modern inventions in the 20^th century. - Back.

HIST 3881-003
African American History – Dr. Beverly Bond
TR 1:00-2:25 pm MI 209

This course examines African American history from the 17th century through the beginning of the 21st century. We will focus on the complex nature of race relations, on the development of African American culture, and on themes, issues, events, and personalities that have contributed to shaping the experiences of African Americans. We are living through some of the most confusing, turbulent times in African American History. I hope you'll be able to use what you learn from our textbook, the primary source documents, the videos, and some additional resources in the modules/units to better understand these events. - Back.

HIST 3881
African American History – Dr. Elton Weaver III
Multiple sections:
001 TR 9:40-11:05 am MI 315
002 TR 11:20 am - 12:45 pm MI 315
004 MWF 10:20-11:15 am MI 209
005 MWF 11:30 am - 12:25pm MI 209

History and culture of African Americans in light of their experiences; aspects of African American life and attitudes of dominant society within which African Americans lived; ways African American men and women shaped and nurtured their own lives, culture and history in U.S. - Back.

HIST ST4000*
Women and Power in Ancient Egypt – Dr. Chrystal Goudsouzian
TR 11:20 am - 12:45 pm MI 203

Goddesses, female pharaohs, queens, daughters, wives, and mothers - this course examines the roles and lives of women in ancient Egypt in the pharaonic period. The course will explore constructions of gender and gendered experiences with a particular focus on the relationship between power and gender at every level of Egyptian society. We will cover ancient Egyptian women’s roles, rights, reproductive lives, labor, religious practices, violence and trauma, and female experiences in death and the afterlife. - Back.

HIST 4299/6299*
Topics in Global History: Slave Societies in the Americas – Dr. Eron Ackerman
TR 11:20 am - 12:45 pm MI 209

This course surveys the development of race-based slavery in Spanish America, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the U.S. South from a comparative perspective. Topics include the Atlantic Slave Trade, plantation life, religion, resistance, the Haitian Revolution, the abolition movement, and emancipation. Using a variety of sources, from slave narratives and planter journals to court transcripts and abolitionist broadsides, we will examine how the slave-based colonial plantation economy developed and how enslaved people persevered, resisted, and fought to liberate themselves with or without the help of white abolitionists. Class meetings will include a blend of lecture, discussion, and primary source analysis. Assignments include quizzes, two papers, and a midterm and final exam. - Back.

HIST 4620/6620*
Early North America to 1754 – Dr. Bradley Dixon
TR 9:40-11:05 am MI 203

This course introduces students to the political, economic, and social processes that shaped early North America prior to the era of revolutions. Students will examine European colonizers, Native Americans, and enslaved and free people of African descent, focusing on how they interacted and influenced each other, and how geography, demography, and disease shaped their lives, creating a “new world” for all. Students in this course will consider how power was shaped by ecology, technology, gender, and race and how the struggle for power resulted in conflicts among different groups of European colonists, Native people and colonists, and between colonists and various European crowns.
Throughout this course, students will read, think, and write critically about the materials presented, and engage in discussions with their peers as they develop an awareness of the wide range of experiences and the diversity of viewpoints encompassed in the term “colonial America.” Successful completion of this course will give students a deeper understanding of the unique role that the American colonial experiences has had in shaping both the United States and the modern world. - Back.

Spring 2025 - Online

Online courses are fully online and completely asynchronous.

HIST 3035 M50*
Technology & Culture in American History – Dr. Caroline Peyton
WEB – Online

This course examines the intersections between the history of technology and American culture. From the war of currents, the history of gaming consoles, to even domestic technologies like the stand mixer, we will explore the history of technology from many different angles. At its core, this class examines two key themes: what factors have influenced the development of specific technologies, and how have those technologies shaped American culture? - Back.

HIST 3283 M50*
History of South Africa – Dr. Dennis Laumann
WEB – Online

This course covers the history of South Africa with particular emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will consider — in chronological order and within a global context —the major economic, political, social, and cultural themes and topics in the history of this sub-region of the African continent. Major topics that will be covered include European colonization and settlement, African kingdoms, and the rise and fall of the apartheid system. Students in this course will be required to complete assigned readings and videos, participate in class discussions, and otherwise actively engage with the course materials and their classmates. - Back.

HIST 3291 M50
Modern Asia – Dr. Catherine Phipps
WEB – Online

East Asia is a dynamic center of economic and political power in today's world. It is also a place of great tension and uncertainty. This survey course will focus on the three key countries of China, Japan, and Korea and explore their dramatic transitions across two centuries, their deep connections, and the important ways they differ and clash. Join me as we learn about imperialism, warfare and friendship, surveillance and persecution, cultural exchange, natural resources and disasters, and the convoluted nexus of democracy, communism, and capitalism. Using historical documents, fiction, scholarly writings, and contemporary news sources, we'll work to understand their complex, integrated histories and how the past shapes their current prominence on the global stage. - Back.

HIST 3322 M50
Egypt of the Pharaohs – Dr. Peter Brand
WEB – Online

In this course we will explore Ancient Egyptian history and society from the origins of the Egyptian state up through the end of the New Kingdom. We will work to build an understanding of Egyptian political, religious, and social structures and the major historical themes that impacted Egyptian history between 5000-1000 BCE. We will do this through both chronological and thematic historical study. We will look at the history, religious believes, interactions with foreign lands, and the social values and customs of the Ancient Egyptians. We will explore topics like kingship, the construction of the pyramids and other huge monuments, the lives of great pharaohs and of average Egyptians, mummification and burial practices, and hieroglyphic writing. By reading and studying ancient texts translated into English, we will hear the Ancient Egyptians speak for themselves. - Back.

HIST 3883 M50
Slavery / Freedom / Segregation: African Americans, 1829-1920 – Dr. Beverly Bond
WEB – Online

This course covers the history of African Americans from the 1820s to the early 1900s. We will focus on the major social, political and economic developments during this period: antebellum enslavement of African Americans; acquisition of freedom and issues of citizenship before the Civil War; the impact of the shifting expansion of national borders on the lives of enslaved and free African American; the abolition of slavery and the post-Civil War construction of Black freedom; the development and impact of legal and extra-legal segregation and disfranchisement of Black voters in the last decades of the 19th century; and the ways in which African Americans addressed this "new slavery," racial segregation, and denials of citizenship rights on the eve of the 20th century. - Back.

HIST 3910 M50*
Witchcraft, Magic and Sorcery in Early America – Dr. Christine Eisel
WEB - Online

HIST 3881 M50-M54
African American History – multiple sections available
WEB – Online

HIST 4162/6162 M50
Russia After 1917 – Dr. Andrei Znamenski
WEB – Online

This course will explore the history of Russia from the 1917 revolution to the present day, including the formation of the Soviet Union, its development, dissolution in 1991, and the current state of Russia. The major themes of the course include World War I and the ascent of Soviet communism in the 1920s, Stalin's rule (1930s-1950s), Cold War, Putin's regime policies, culture and everyday life in the Soviet Union and present-day Russia. Since the Soviet Union/Russia is a multiethnic society, we will also approach its history as the interaction of vastly different Eurasian nationalities and cultures. - Back.