History

Faculty

Chair: Professor Susan Ouellette
Professors: George Dameron, Douglas Slaybaugh, Ke-wen Wang
Associate Professors: Thomas Andersen, Yovanna Pineda
Assistant Professor: Jennifer Purcell

Remembering the past is a fundamental human activity. The discipline of history is that field of inquiry which seeks to understand and recapture the human past by the application of critical methods of investigation and analysis. Because the subject matter of history is so broadly rich and diverse, the discipline must attempt to order and unify the past so that the student may not only see what happened but also develop an informed perception of the significance of what happened. In its task of investigating the human past, the discipline of history must avail itself of other branches of learning, especially the social sciences, religious studies, philosophy and literature. History, therefore, is one of the most important of the liberal arts because it utilizes and integrates both the arts and the sciences in order to give meaning to past human experience.

To accomplish its goal of enlarging student awareness and perception, the Department of History has set for itself the following objectives: to impart to the student a general knowledge of the rich variety of human activity in the past; to acquaint the student with specialized areas in Western and non-Western history; to promote the student’s understanding of, and appreciation for, the present as a complex evolutionary product of the past; to strengthen the student’s critical faculties to synthesize and analyze so that an informed perception of the meaning of the past might result; and finally, to help the student develop the literary and rhetorical skills necessary for intelligent self-expression through discussions, the preparation of papers and oral presentations.

The history department also sponsors its own local chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the International History Honor Society. Our chapter, Alpha Epsilon Nu, offers membership to all students who have attained high standards of scholarship in at least twelve credit hours in history. Special programs and activities are planned annually.

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