History BA
Do you often ask “how” and “why”? Are you curious and analytical and up for a challenge? A History degree is for those who answer “Yes!” Studying history introduces you to the fascinating and familiar in ancient and modern societies, to cultures in faraway places, and to the complexities of our own neighborhoods. A history major will help you understand the present in new ways and build your professional future through hands- on research. By honing the skills demanded by employers in a wide variety of fields, history is a versatile and marketable major.
General Education Requirements
History majors must meet the university and college general education requirements.
Majors may not take required history courses on a satisfactory/unsatisfactory basis. Students enrolled in variable credit reading courses for 5 credit hours must complete a seminar paper.
Students may take any language that fulfills the college's foreign language requirement.
Degree Requirements
Majors must complete at least 33, but not more than 45, hours in history with no grade below C-. Students are encouraged to move from introductory courses at the 1000 level to more advanced courses at the 2000 and 3000 levels then to research oriented courses at the 4000 level.
| 1000 Level | ||
| Select three courses at the 1000 level | 9 | |
| 2000 Level | ||
| HIST 2999 | Introduction to Historical Inquiry | 3 |
| HIST 2199 | Real History and Fake News | 3 |
| or HIST 2050 | Museums, Monuments and American Life: Introduction to Public History | |
| Select at least one additional course at the 2000 level | 3 | |
| 3000 Level | ||
| Select at least one course at the 3000 level | 3 | |
| 4000 Level 1 | ||
| Select at least two courses at the 4000 level | 6 | |
| Additional Coursework | ||
| Select at least two additional courses at the 2000-4000 level | 6 | |
| Total Hours | 33 | |
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Students may only count up to 3 credit hours of HIST 4001, Special Readings toward the degree.
Students seeking a degree with distinction must enroll in HIST 4100 for 5 credit hours to satisfy their 4000-level requirements, adding an additional 2 credits to the total number of degree hours.
Undergraduate majors must complete a residency minimum of 15 hours of 2000/3000/4000 level History courses including 6 credit hours of 4000 level courses at UMSL.
Alternative courses to satisfy the History requirements
Some courses may satisfy the History requirement even though they are not listed as such, depending the content. These include courses at the Honors College, and in other departments. If a course covers some aspect of History, a student may request to include it as satisfying a degree requirement. The student should obtain a description and syllabus and submit both to the History undergraduate advisor for approval.
Departmental Honors
Students who have achieved the following: a) at least a 3.2 overall GPA; b) at least a 3.5 GPA for all hours attempted in history courses; and c) an outstanding research paper in the Senior Seminar as certified by the faculty member responsible for directing it, may be awarded departmental honors upon graduation.
Learning Outcomes
Graduates of this program will be able to:
- Build historical knowledge.
- Gather and contextualize information in order to convey both the particularity of past lives and the scale of human experience.
- Recognize how humans in the past shaped their own unique historical moments and were shaped by those moments.
- Develop a body of historical knowledge with breadth of time and place—as well as depth of detail—in order to discern context.
- Distinguish the past from our very different present.
- Develop research methods.
- Recognize history as an interpretive account of the human past—one that historians create in the present from surviving evidence.
- Collect, sift, organize, question, synthesize, and interpret complex material.
- Practice ethical historical inquiry that makes use of and acknowledges sources from the past as well as the scholars who have interpreted that past.
- Develop empathy toward people in the context of their distinctive historical moments.
- Recognize that Historical knowledge is complex, sometimes ambiguous, and subject to ongoing reexamination.
- Welcome contradictory perspectives and data, which enable us to provide more accurate accounts and construct stronger arguments.
- Describe past events from multiple perspectives.
- Explain and justify multiple causes of complex events and phenomena using conflicting sources.
- Identify, summarize, appraise, and synthesize other scholars’ historical arguments.
- Apply the range of historical thinking skills to evidence that is often incomplete, complex, and contradictory.
- Consider a variety of historical sources for credibility, position, perspective, and relevance.
- Evaluate historical arguments, explaining how they were constructed and might be improved.
- Revise analyses and narratives when new evidence requires it.
- Create historical arguments and narratives and effectively communicate them.
- Generate substantive, open-ended questions about the past and develop research strategies to answer them.
- Craft well-supported historical narratives, arguments, and reports of research findings in a variety of media for a variety of audiences.
- Use historical perspective as central to active citizenship.
- Apply historical knowledge and historical thinking to contemporary issues.
- Develop positions that reflect deliberation, cooperation, and diverse perspectives.
Sample Four Year Plan
| First Year | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| INTDSC 10031 | 1 | HIST 1XXX History Core | 3 |
| HIST 1001 or 1002 | 3 | HIST 2101 | 1 |
| ENGL 1100 | 3 | FGN LANG 1002 Language and Culture II | 5 |
| CORE - Mathematics Proficiency | 3 | CORE - Communication Proficiency | 3 |
| FNG LANG 1001 Language and Culture I | 5 | EXPLORE - Social Sciences | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Second Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| HIST 1XXX History Core | 3 | HIST 2000-3999 History Core | 3 |
| HIST 2000-3999 History Core | 3 | HIST 2100 | 1 |
| FGN LANG 2101 Language and Culture III | 3 | HIST 2999 | 3 |
| EXPLORE - Mathematics and Life/Natural Sciences | 3 | ENGL 3100 | 3 |
| EXPLORE - Social Sciences | 3 | EXPLORE - Mathematics and Life/Natural Sciences | 3 |
| 15 | 13 | ||
| Third Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| HIST 2000-3999 History Core | 3 | HIST 2000-3999 level course | 3 |
| EXPLORE - Mathematics and Life/Natural Sciences | 3 | Global Perspectives Requirement (choose a History course) | 3 |
| EXPLORE - Social Sciences | 3 | CORE - Information Literacy | 3 |
| Elective or minor | 3 | Elective or minor | 3 |
| Elective or minor | 3 | Elective or minor | 3 |
| 15 | 15 | ||
| Fourth Year | |||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours |
| HIST 3999 (or HIST 3XXX Elective) | 3 | HIST 4999 ( or HIST 4XXX History Elective) | 5 |
| HIST 4XXX History Elective | 3 | Elective or minor | 3 |
| Elective or minor | 3 | Elective or minor | 3 |
| Elective or minor | 3 | Elective or minor | 3 |
| Elective or minor | 3 | Elective or minor | 3 |
| 15 | 17 | ||
| Total Hours: 120 | |||
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INTDSC 1003 is required only for first-time freshmen and transfer students with less than 24 college credits.
PLEASE NOTE: This plan is an example of what a four year plan could look like for a typical student. Placement exam scores in math as well as the completion of coursework may change the plan. It should not be used in the place of regular academic advising appointments. All students are encouraged to meet with their advisor each semester. All requirements are subject to change.
Teacher Certification
B.S. Ed. in Secondary Education with Emphasis in History
The B.S. Ed. is a professional education degree designed for students who wish to pursue a teaching career in secondary schools. Much of the discipline-specific coursework parallels the B.A. degree in the discipline; however, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requires specific coursework for teacher certification. Therefore, students interested in the B.S. Ed. should contact the advising office (OASIS) 314-516-5937 in the College of Education for discipline-specific requirements. Note: To obtain teaching certification, DESE requires a 3.0 GPA in the discipline and professional education coursework, as well as a 2.75 GPA overall.
B.A. in History with Master’s Level Coursework for Secondary Teacher Certification
Students may opt to complete a B.A. degree in their discipline as an undergraduate, followed by admission to the Graduate School for Master’s level teaching certification. The College of Education has a one-year accelerated program for post-graduate certification called Teach in 12 or a traditional path to certification. Graduate coursework for certification can apply towards a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education, with additional coursework. Students interested in Master’s Level teacher certification should contact the advising office (OASIS) 314-516-5937 in the College of Education. Note: To obtain teaching certification, DESE requires a 3.0 GPA in the discipline and professional education coursework, as well as a 2.75 GPA overall.