Spring 2026 Curriculum

HIST 1100 – Law and History

Introduces the role of law in shaping human society. Explores how laws have evolved over the past two millennia in different contexts under the influence of different religious systems and political, economic, and social theories. Studies key legal texts and analyzes legal traditions in several regions of the world. Considers how laws have affected the everyday lives of subjects, slaves, and citizens.

Professor Simon Rabinovitch

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 38174

HIST 1130 – Introduction to the History of the United States

Engages with the major issues in U.S. history. Topics include the interaction of native populations with European settlers, the American Revolution and the Constitution, slavery, the Civil War, industrialization and migration, the growth of government and rise of the welfare state, media and mass culture, struggles for civil rights and liberation, and America’s role in the world from independence to the Iraq wars.

Professor Jessica Parr

MR, 11:45am – 1:25pm

CRN: 32651

HIST/ASNS 1150 – East Asian Studies

Seeks to provide an understanding of the constituent characteristics that originally linked East Asia as a region and the nature of the transformations that have occurred in the region over the last two thousand years. Concentrates on China and Japan, and addresses Korea and Vietnam where possible. Also seeks to provide students with effective interdisciplinary analytical skills as well as historical, ethical, cultural diversity, and aesthetic perspectives. ASNS 1150 and HIST 1150 are cross-listed.

Professor Micheal Thornton

MWR, 1:35pm – 2:40pm

CRN: 31873

HIST 1170 – Europe: Empires, Revolutions, Wars, and Their Aftermath

Examines how empires, wars, and revolutions have influenced the development of the modern world, focusing on Europe and Europe’s connections with the non–European world. Explores how wars and revolutions led to the emergence of modern concepts of sovereignty, the state, and citizenship and how global competition between states led to the emergence of empires. Traces the promise of allegedly liberating ideologies and the political and economic revolutions they fostered, repeated wars and their aftermaths, and the challenges of recent world developments viewed from the perspective of history. Explores how human diversity and difference have shaped modern societies through history and how human difference and multiculturalism have both fostered and posed challenges to civic sustainability. Interrogates the meanings of “modernity,” democracy and totalitarianism, capitalism and socialism, and globalization.

Professor Erina Megowan

MWR, 1:35pm – 2:40pm

CRN: 32404

HIST 1200 – Historical Research and Writing

Offered in conjunction with HIST 1201. Introduces incoming history freshmen to the history major in the context of other disciplines within the college and University. Offers students an opportunity to learn and to practice methods and conventions of research and historical writing.

Professor Erina Megowan

Does Not Meet

CRN: 31874

HIST 1201 – First Year Seminar

Provides an introduction to historical methods, research, writing, and argument in which all students produce a substantial research project that passes through at least two revisions, and that is presented publicly to other members of the colloquium.

Professor Erina Megowan

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 31875

HIST 1253 – History of Vietnam Wars

Presents a history of military conflicts on the Indochinese Peninsula from its precolonial settlement; internal developments and divisions; its stormy relationship with China; French colonization and the resistance to it; the rise of the Vietminh during World War II; the postwar struggle against the French; the impact of the cold war; and the involvement of the United States after 1950 in the creation of two Vietnams and in the conflict that engulfed it and its neighbors, Laos and Cambodia, in the decades that followed. Emphasizes the roles of nationalism and communism in the 20th-century conflicts and the motives for U.S. intervention. Films revealing the reactions of Americans to the escalating conflict are shown and evaluated.

Professor Peter Fraunholtz

Online/Asynchronous

CRN: 38176

HIST 1272 – Europe in the Middle Ages: 500-1500

Examines the history of medieval Europe in a period of tremendous fluidity, migration, and flux. Studies the experiences of men and women in European societies before clearly defined nation-states had emerged. Topics include forms of political and cultural integration; the contacts between Europeans and non-Europeans in the Mediterranean and beyond; and the place of religion, art, and ideology, with attention to how Europeans’ experiences varied according to their gender, class, and race.

Professor Robert Cross

MWR, 10:30am – 11:35am

CRN: 33636

HIST 1286 – History of the Soviet Union

Examines Russia and the Soviet Union in the 20th century focusing on empires and revolutions: the Russian empire’s dissolution, the Russian Revolution and civil war, building the Soviet Union, World War II, the cold war and Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe and Asia, the breakup of the Soviet Union and its newly independent states, and Russian efforts to maintain influence in the post-Soviet space. Assesses the construction of Soviet identity by interpreting Soviet culture in the form of film, literature, art, and music. Evaluates explanatory theories of revolution and empire and the evolution of Marxism in the context of revolution and state building.

Professor Erina Megowan

MWR, 9:15am – 10:20am

CRN: 38177

HIST 1290 – Modern Middle East

Examines the political, social, and cultural history of the Arab countries of the modern Middle East, as well as Iran, Israel, and Turkey. Covers the period from the early 19th century through the late 20th century. Offers students an opportunity to obtain a basis for understanding the politics, social movements, and cultural expressions of the region in the late 20th century. Major themes include imperialism and colonialism; the creation and transformation of the modern states and their political systems since World War I; the transformation of Middle Eastern societies during this same period under the impact of colonialism, independence, regional wars, and oil; women’s and labor movements; and revolutions. Uses a variety of sources including memoirs, photography, literature, and political speeches.

Professor Ilham Khuri-Makdisi

TF, 9:50am – 11:30am

CRN: 38178

HIST/INSH 1300 – Intro to Health and Humanities

Explores the ways in which narrative and other forms of creative and cultural expression help shape conceptions of illness, healing, and the body. Offers students opportunities to consider the health and humanities through a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and genres. Includes small-group and classwide experiential field outings. Culminates in the composition of reflective responses, a medical ethics/medical journalism piece, and a team-based experiential e-portfolio project. Course objectives include differentiating between healing and curing; knowing how to elicit, listen to, and analyze stories to determine how participants in the healthcare system experience illness and healing; being able to articulate the ways health is a cultural construct; and using this analysis to identify an empathic response as a future professional.

Professor Christopher Parsons

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 33638

HIST 1357 – Data, Surveillance, and Society

Explores the history of data in the United States. Considers the laws, technologies, and politics that have surrounded data’s collection and uses, with special emphasis on data surveillance and privacy. Analyzes how data collection has influenced state power, labor and business, law enforcement, political campaigns, race and gender, media, public health, computing, and personal identity. Provides historical context for evaluating and analyzing contemporary issues around digital data and its applications.

Professor Jessica Parr

MWR, 1:35pm – 2:40pm

CRN: 33639

HIST 2211 – The World Since 1945

Examines the political, economic, social, and cultural relationship between the developed and developing world since the end of World War II. Topics include the Cold War, independence and national movements in developing countries, the globalization of the world economy, scientific and technological innovations, wealth and poverty, the eradication of some diseases and the spread of others, the fall of the Soviet Union, Middle East turmoil, and the enduring conflict between Israel and Palestine.

SECTION 01:
Professor Malcolm Purinton
MWR, 9:15am – 10:20am
CRN: 32987

SECTION 05:
Professor Peter Fraunholtz
Online/Asynchronous
CRN: 32988

HIST 2220 – History of Technology

Offers an interdisciplinary survey of the global history of science and technology. Explores how scientific and technical knowledge, processes, and innovations developed and circulated. Examines how science and technology both shaped and responded to society, culture, ethics, and thought.

SECTION 02:
Professor Jessica Linker
MWR, 10:30am – 11:35am
CRN: 32989

SECTION 03:
Professor Scott Knowles
MWR, 4:35pm – 5:40pm
CRN: 33642

HIST/POLS/JWSS – The Holocaust and Comparative Genocide

Examines the origins of the Holocaust, perpetrators and victims, and changing efforts to come to terms with this genocide. The Holocaust, the murder of six million Jews by Germans in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, is one of the crucial events of modern history. Investigates the uniqueness of the Holocaust relative to other acts of ethnic cleansing or genocide, including mass death in the New World and mass murder in Armenia, Bosnia, and Rwanda.

Professor Natalie Bormann

TF, 1:35pm – 3:15pm

CRN: 38179

HIST 2301 – The History Seminar

Introduces history majors to advanced techniques of historical practice in research and writing. Offers students an opportunity to conduct original research and write an original research paper. Seminar themes vary; students should check with the Department of History for a list of each year’s seminar offerings. May be repeated without limit.

Professor Uta Poriger

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 30271

HIST 2302 – Historical Writing

Covers learning and practicing methods and conventions of historical writing for publication. Adjuncted to a Seminar in History, which fulfills the Advanced Writing in the Disciplines requirement.

Professor Uta Poiger

Does Not Meet

CRN: 32667

HIST/WMNS/SOCL 2303 – Gender and Reproductive Justice

Introduces the social, legal, and economic barriers to accessing reproductive healthcare domestically and internationally. Draws on various theoretical and analytic tools including critical race theory, critical legal theory, sociology of science, human rights, feminist theory, and a range of public health methods. Access to reproductive health services, including abortion, is one of the most contested political, social, cultural, and religious issues today. Covers domestic, regional, and international legal and regulatory frameworks on sexual reproductive health. HIST 2303, SOCL 2303, and WMNS 2303 are triple cross-listed.

Professor Margot Abels

TF, 1:35pm – 3:15pm

CRN: 33630

HIST 2311 – Colonialism/Imperialism

Examines the military, economic, political, and cultural expansion of world powers since the fifteenth century, and the ways in which colonized peoples were ruled. Why did colonialist countries feel the need to conquer and dominate, how did they do it, and why did they retreat on some fronts? How did people resist and cooperate with colonialism? How did colonialism affect national and cultural identities? Colonialism is examined as a global phenomenon and from a comparative perspective that looks at particular case studies. Also examines decolonization in the twentieth century.

SECTION 03:
Professor Louise Walker
Online/Asynchronous
CRN: 32652

SECTION 04:
Professor Heather Salter
TF, 1:35pm – 3:15pm
CRN 33643

HIST 2330 – Colonial and Revolutionary America

Covers the discovery and exploration of the New World, the settlement of the English, French, Dutch, Swedish, Spanish, and Russian colonies on the North American mainland, their development to 1763, the origins of their clashes with England, and the American Revolution.

Professor Jessica Linker

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 33644

HIST 2337 – African American History Before 1900

Traces the presence of African-descended people in North America. Emphasizes the historical and cultural links between Africa and North America that have shaped the Black experience in the United States. Explores and analyzes the institution of slavery, the role of free Black communities, the Civil War and emancipation, and Black leadership and protest during the Reconstruction era. Introduces students to the historian’s craft, theoretical debates concerning race and gender, and the persistence of the past in the present.

Professor Kabria Baumgartner

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 39771

HIST 2375 – The Tudors, the Stuarts, and the Birth of Modern Britain

Examines the history of early modern England as well as Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. Follows the development of England from a small backwater to one of the most powerful European nations by the end of the seventeenth century. Analyzes the constantly shifting relationships between the various cultural identities within Britain. Concentrates on British history not only from the perspective of the elites but also the ordinary people whose names have often been lost to history. Key themes include the growth of the British Empire, issues of gender, the interactions between England and the Celtic fringes, and participation in the political franchise.

Professor Robert Cross

MWR, 4:35pm – 5:40pm

CRN: 38180

HIST 3100 – Taste of History: A Global Exploration of Food and Drink

Focuses on the pivotal role of food and drink in shaping human societies throughout history. Drawing from primary sources, monographs, and scholarly articles, examines the production, consumption, and cultural significance of food and drink within global economic systems, social structures, religious practices, and cultural exchanges. Explores the connections and exchanges within historical events and related issues such as empire, migration, race, class, gender, religion, power, identity, trade, and the environment through the lens of food history and culinary cultures.

Professor Malcolm Purinton

MR, 11:45am – 1:25pm

CRN: TBA

HIST 3310 – War and Society

Focuses on the history of the relationship between war, the military, and society. Interrogates militarism, asking why people have chosen—or have been chosen—to fight and die, or why and how they have protested and resisted. Analyzes how war has been presented and consumed in popular culture and how societies have conceived of “wartime” and “peacetime.” Emphasizes four key themes—race, gender, sex, and class—to track developments in military practice and administration alongside political processes, and considers how the military reflects and is reflected in society.

Instructor Christopher McNulty

TF, 9:50am – 11:30am

CRN: 38705

HIST 4701 – Capstone Seminar

Offers students an opportunity to make use of advanced techniques of historical methodology to conduct original research and write a major, original research paper as the culmination of their work toward the history degree. This is a capstone research and writing seminar for history majors.

Professor Gretchen Heefner

MW, 2:50pm – 4:30pm

CRN: 32990

HIST 7221 – Topics in World History

This course is designed to help second- and third-year PhD students prepare for comprehensive exams and/or prospectus writing.  Second-year students will work on building reading lists, defining topics, and strategies for getting the work done. Third-year students will craft their dissertation proposals. Much of the course will involve independent and small group work, as well as presentations by students who have already completed their requirements. This class can be taken on top of an existing course load, as assigned readings are contained to reviewing proposals and the books on your own reading lists. 

Professor Ilham Khuri-Makdisi

R, 4:35pm – 7:30pm

CRN: 38182

HIST 7250 – Topics in Public History

The Place Based Museum. Offers readings, class work, and projects on selected themes and issues in public history.

Professor Garret Nelson

W, 4:35pm – 7:30pm

CRN: 38766