History

Undergraduate Programs

Description

The study of history is the attempt to understand and interpret past human societies. History provides both the joy and anguish of contemplating collective experiences and presents insights to produce a better future for the human race. History opens a panorama of enormous variety in human experiences, values, and customs, which provide enjoyment and from which society can also learn wisdom, mutual respect, and tolerance.

Students develop research, writing, and analytical skills that open doors to a wide variety of job opportunities in fields such as business, politics, government, education, and healthcare. A degree in history is also an outstanding foundation for students who plan to attend law school or graduate school.

Students interested in teaching history should see the Social Studies section for information on the major in Social Studies with a History Concentration BS, Teaching.

Majors

 Program Locations Major / Total Credits
History BA BA - Bachelor of Arts
  • Mankato
 51 / 120
History BS BS - Bachelor of Science
  • Mankato
 36 / 120

Minors

 Program Locations Total Credits
History Minor
  • Mankato
 20

Policies & Faculty

Policies

Admission to Major. Admission to major is granted by the department when the student declares a History major.

GPA Policy. A minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.0 is required in the major.

Pass/No Credit Policy. Undergraduate history courses may be taken either for P/N or letter grading except HIST 490 (workshops), HIST 497 (1-12 credits), and HIST 499 (1-3 credits), which are available only on P/N grading. However, majors and minors in history and majors in social studies (history core) must take all history courses, other than those enumerated, for a letter grade. No more than one-fourth of the credits in a history major or minor may be taken as P/N.

Transfer Policy. Transfer students should contact the Department of History to have their transfer credits reviewed prior to registration for classes. All transfer students majoring in history are required to take at least 8 semester credits with the Minnesota State Mankato Department of History. All transfer students minoring in history are required to take at least 4 semester credits with the Minnesota State Mankato Department of History.

Distinction in History: In order to provide broad preparation for graduate study, history majors of superior ability may read for honors in three different areas [see HIST 390 (1) - HIST 392 (1)]. Only history majors with the permission of the professor can enroll in these classes. Students who successfully complete these three classes with a grade-point average of 3.5 for Minnesota State Mankato courses (and who have met the other degree requirements) will be eligible for graduation "with distinction in history."

Accelerated Combined Degree (BA/MA and BS/MS): Students interested in receiving both their undergraduate and graduate degrees in History at Minnesota State University, may apply to the Department for admission into the Accelerated Graduate Program. Interested majors may apply upon the completion of 60 credits if they have a minimum GPA of 3.0. If accepted, students will work with an advisor to design an accelerated program in which up to 12 credits of 500-level courses can be applied to both their undergraduate and graduate programs. If accepted, students must maintain a minimum of 3.0 GPA overall and a 3.0 in the major to continue in the program. Interested students should contact the Department for more information.

Contact Information

110B Armstrong Hall
507-389-1618
https://hss.mnsu.edu/academic-programs/history/

Faculty

Graduate Coordinator
  • Lori Lahlum, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator
  • Angela Jill Cooley, Ph.D.
Chair
  • Laura Harrison, Ph.D.
Faculty
  • Justin Biel, Ph.D.
  • Angela Jill Cooley, Ph.D.
  • Christopher R. Corley, Ph.D.
  • Jameel Haque, Ph.D.
  • Lori Ann Lahlum, Ph.D.
  • Matthew Loayza, Ph.D.
  • Chad McCutchen, Ph.D.
  • Chelsea Mead, Ph.D.
  • Agnes Odinga, Ph.D.
  • Tao Peng, Ph.D.
  • Kyle Ward, Ph.D.

100 Level

Credits: 3

This course is designed to provide an overview and analysis of the historical experiences of the family in the United States from earliest settlement to the present in order to aid students in understanding the contemporary situation of the family in American society.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

A history of the physical, political, cultural, social, and economic foundations of world civilizations to 1500.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Credits: 4

A history of the physical, political, cultural, social, and economic foundations of world civilizations to 1500. Same content as HIST 170. Students may not take both HIST 170 and HIST 170W for credit.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Credits: 4

Review of major changes in World Civilizations since 1500.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Review of major changes in World Civilization since 1500. Same content as HIST 171. Students may not take both HIST 171 and HIST 171W for credit.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

A survey of European civilization from Egypt to the end of the Thirty Years War.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-10

Credits: 4

A survey of European civilization from Egypt to the end of the Thirty Years War. Same content as HIST 180. Students may not take both HIST 180 and HIST 180W for credit.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-10

Credits: 4

A survey of European history from the end of the Thirty Years War to the present.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-09

Credits: 4

Survey of European history from the end of the Thirty Years War to the present. Same content as HIST 181. Students may not take both HIST 181 and HIST 181W for credit.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-09

Credits: 4

This course is designed to provide an overview of America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from earliest colonization to 1877.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course is designed to provide an overview of America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from earliest colonization to 1877. Same content as HIST 190. Students may not take both HIST 190 and HIST 190W for credit.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

A survey of American History from the end of Reconstruction to the present with a special emphasis on political and social developments.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course is designed to provide an overview of America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from 1877 to the present. This course has the same content as HIST 191. Students may not take both HIST 191 and HIST 191W for credit.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

200 Level

Credits: 4

This course provides an historical and interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Islamic world. The course examines Islam and Islamic cultures within a global context, from its beginnings through the contemporary period.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-07, GE-08

Diverse Cultures: Gold

Credits: 4

Examines the causes, course and legacy of World War II and the Holocaust, including the rise of fascism; European, Japanese, and U.S. imperialism in Asia; the course of the war in Europe and Asia; the home fronts of the belligerent countries; and the march toward the final solution. This course will focus in on a global perspective of these events and discuss the impact it had on various ethnic, racial, religious and gender groups.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This class looks at the history of sports and games across the span of global history! Progressing through the course of human history, this class will discuss recreation, organized sports, professional sports, and the advent of modern video games. Students will develop critical thinking skills and engage with this fascinating topic by developing oral and written communication skills. This class will engage with human diversity, both inside and outside of the US through the lens of sports and games.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-02, GE-07

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Through a series of historical simulations, students develop communication and oral reasoning skills by researching, writing, and participating in debates about key global political events that changed the course of history. Students will study primary and secondary sources related to the historical events. Students will draft, rewrite, and defend oral arguments based on their research, and they will conduct debates with other students in class.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-09, GE-1B

Credits: 4

A general survey of premodern East Asian civilizations -- particularly China and Japan -- from the beginning to 1800. Topics include the formation and development of East Asian civilizations and the evolving East Asian engagement with the natural environment before the 19th century.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-10

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

A general survey of premodern East Asian civilizations -- particularly China and Japan -- from the beginning to 1800. Topics include the formation and development of East Asian civilizations and the evolving East Asian engagement with the natural environment before the 19th century.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-05, GE-10

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Students will develop communication, reasoning, and collaborative skills through history-based exercises interrogating diverse and changing understandings of democracy in what is now the United States. Students will analyze historical sources highlighting American traditions of disagreement as well as creative compromise over the character and features of self-government, the narratives by which to understand the past, and the legacies and lessons of the past for the present. The course puts current divisions among Americans into historical context to help students widen their perspectives, work productively across differences, and learn to substantiate their opinions on public issues with historical and contemporary evidence.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-09, GE-1B

Credits: 4

This class traces the evolving history of race from its creation in early modern Europe to political uses of this history in the twenty-first century United States. Students will learn about whiteness and blackness as social constructions that implicated the trans-Atlantic slave trade, patterns of imperialism, systems of oppression, and notions of beauty in western society. Students will also be involved in historical commemoration and/or racial justice projects involving communities of color in Minnesota to reflect on how the historical context informs these activities and how history continues to be used politically.

Prerequisites: none

Goal Areas: GE-09, GE-11

Diverse Cultures: Gold

300 Level

Credits: 1-4

Historical study tours provide students with the opportunity to study at an off-campus location in a tour or program organized by a History professor. In addition to the off-campus experience, the course may also include readings, assignments, and class meetings on campus before or after the tour.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Review of World History as a field of study.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This course examines U.S. constitutional history from its foundations to the current day. Students will read and analyze legal material and explore how U.S. constitutional interpretations changed over time; factors affecting change and resistance; and how constitutional change both reflected and shaped U.S. society, culture, politics, and economics.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1

Students will read primary and/or secondary sources in United States history and complete writing assignments to prepare for future graduate study.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

Credits: 1

Students will read primary and/or secondary sources in European history and complete writing assignments to prepare for future graduate study.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

Credits: 1

Students will read primary and/or secondary sources in World history and complete writing assignments to prepare for future graduate study.

Prerequisites: Permission of instructor.

400 Level

Credits: 4

The history of Greece and Rome stressing political, social and economic institutions and cultural and intellectual achievements.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

A history of western monotheistic religions and their interactions with the secular world and each other from the beginnings of Judaism to the Crusades.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

A history of the Middle Ages stressing political, social and economic interactions and cultural achievements.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

European history from the later Middle Ages to the end of the Thirty Years' War (c. 1300-1648). Students will examine the intellectual, religious, and cultural developments in Western-Europe, with special attention given to social life and popular culture.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

The history of Europe from the Treaty of Westphalia to the eve of the French Revolution (1648-1789). Course emphasizes absolutism and constitutionalism, the construction of European empires, the scientific revolution and Enlightenment, and social and economic changes.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

A history of women from Classical Greece and Rome to the modern era. An analysis of the changing concepts of gender relations within a study of women as individuals and as members of socio-economic, ethnic, kin, and religious groups.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

A history of the witchcraft phenomenon in Europe from the Middle Ages to 1800. The course examines the rise and decline of the European witch hunts through the history of religion, politics, law, gender, sexuality, and social life.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

England from ancient times to the death of Elizabeth I.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Political, social and economic development of England and Great Britain since the death of Elizabeth I.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Review of French history from the Revolution of 1789 to the present, including such topics as origins and course of the Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII to Third Republic, World War I, World War II and France since 1945.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Political, economic, social, cultural, and immigration history of the Scandinavian countries, including major themes in the mass migration and history of Scandinavians in America. Emphasis on the period, 1500-present.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-4

This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of United States history as announced by the department.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-4

This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of European history as announced by the department.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-4

This seminar course will deal with a specific aspect of World History as announced by the department.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

A comparative history of the Chinese and Japanese nations from the 19th century to 1945.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

A comparative history of the rise of the Chinese and Japanese nations from 1945 to the present.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

History of relations of major East Asian countries with the United States from the late 18th century to the present.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Investigation of historical developments across the African continent from pre-history through the eighteenth century. Topics will include ancient empires of West Africa, the Swahili coast, the spread of Islam, the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the formation of South Africa's multi-racial society.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Investigation of historical developments in Sub-Saharan Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Topics will include trade with Europe and America, European colonization and African resistance, life in colonial Africa, independence movements, South Africa's apartheid state and the Rwanda genocide.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course traces the rise and fall of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires in America. Specific focus is given to the interactions between the European, African, and indigenous populations as they formulated societies in the Americas.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course traces the history of Latin America from the late colonial period through the present as the various countries in the region attempted to transcend their colonial past and confront the pressures of modernization and globalization.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course focuses on the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations. Beginning with the foundations of Mesoamerican and Andean culture and culminating with the arrival of the Spanish, we will analyze the historical development of the great societies that emerged in the Americas.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This course examines the history of the rise and decline of piracy in the Atlantic World. We will trace the evolution of various political, economic, social and cultural aspects of piracy that emerged through an analysis of the broad historical movements occurring in the early modern era. Rather than a study of the biographies of famous pirates, this course will examine how and why Atlantic piracy became so prominent and seeks to explain its significance in changing the course of world history.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

How do we define the Middle East? In our popular culture and media sources that we are exposed to daily, the Middle East is one of the more discussed and yet, one of the most misunderstood topics. Our goal is to both to unlearn misconceptions and to create an accurate representation of the region. Our class will start with an introduction to the region and its history and the misconceptions that are attached to it. It will then proceed from the late 18th century to the revolutionary events of recent years dubbed the Arab Spring and their aftermaths.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This course will examine Minnesota's social, political, and economic development from the earliest human habitation to the present.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This course will examine America's political, social, economic, and cultural development from the earliest settlement of the continent by indigenous peoples to 1763, when provincial Americans began to demand more than token equality in the British Empire.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course will examine the social, economic, ideological, political, diplomatic, and military experiences of the United States between 1763 and 1820, in order to understand the creation of the American political nation and the culture which developed within it.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course will discuss the social, economic, and political issues from the rise of Jackson through the beginning of the Civil War. Major issues to be covered include: Jacksonian Democracy, Industrialization, Reform, Westward Expansion, Slavery, and the 1850's.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course will explore the immediate causes and consequences of the Civil War as well as the rise of an industrial/urban United States. Major issues to be covered include: causes of the Civil War, the war itself, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and Populism.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Reform/domestic themes and U.S. foreign policies during the Progressive Era, the Roaring 20's, the Great Depression and the New Deal, and the two world wars.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Social, political and foreign affairs since World War II.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

An examination of the major factors influencing U.S. diplomacy since 1900. Students will examine how influential policy makers defined their diplomatic goals, and how both domestic and external factors have contributed to America's reaction to wars and revolutions around the world.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

Occupation of the area between the Mississippi and the Pacific from Spanish exploration to the late 19th century.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course looks at the social, political, and economic developments that transformed the 20th Century American West.Fall

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course will discuss slavery and emancipation in the Atlantic World (Africa, Latin America, and the United States). Students will discover how slavery and emancipation differed in different regions and over time.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course surveys African American history from slavery to the twenty-first century. We will explore the history of enslavement, black resistance, African American culture, freedom, migration patterns, and black political thought and participation as well as how historians have interpreted and re-interpreted this history.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course will examine the Vietnam War. Students will discover how and why the U.S. became involved in Vietnam, examine the specific problems faced by American diplomats and military officials, and how the war affected American society.

Prerequisites: none

Diverse Cultures: Purple

Credits: 4

This course will examine the U.S. civil rights movement in the 20th century. Students will study the African American freedom movement and other civil rights campaigns to understand the basis of both oppression and civil rights in the U.S. and will apply this historical context to contemporary civil rights struggles. The course will emphasize reading, research, and writing skills.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Topics in intellectual history or popular and traditional culture.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

An examination of the history of labor and the emergence of social welfare within the context of the modernization of western society and the diversity of the United States.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

A historical study of the immigration and ethnic experience in America. Includes an examination of political, social, and economic changes that resulted in population movements to the U.S. and of the development of immigration laws in response to the arrival of outsiders. Attention is given to the rise of anti-immigrant movements at various times in American history.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This course will examine the interaction between humans and the American environment from pre-Columbus to the present.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

This course is designed to provide a survey and analysis of the historical experiences of women in the United States from earliest settlement by indigenous peoples to the present in order to aid students in understanding the contemporary situation of women in American society.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

Discussion of disasters in US history from colonial times to the present. Contemporary descriptions of the events will be reviewed as will the changing response of both the public and the government to these events.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-4

Specific titles to be announced in departmental course descriptions.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 4

In this capstone course required for all history majors, students will study historical methods, professional standards, and ways to communicate history to diverse audiences. Students will actively engage in historical inquiry to complete a polished research project. Permission of the department and instructor is required.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-12

Students will apply historical skills and knowledge through a practical work experience at a non-profit organization, governmental agency, for-profit business, or other institution. P/N only.

Prerequisites: none

Credits: 1-4

Advanced independent study and research. P/N only.

Prerequisites: none