History - minor

What you will study

As a student of history at Alverno College, you learn that history is not just a matter of learning a set of facts about the past. Instead, you come to understand how historians and students of history take various kinds of evidence about how people once lived and create meaningful interpretations of the past that are relevant to life today. By seeing how people in the past made choices that impact us today, you better understand how your choices contribute to change, now and in the future.

By studying history in its relationship to the other humanities, you explore the connections among people, ideas, works of art, and customs from many different cultures and eras of human history. You identify enduring questions about human value and meaning as you respond to ideas, events, and creative expressions of human experience. The links you make between your own and others’ lives lead you to a deeper consideration of what it means to be human.

At the same time, the study of history encourages you to raise critical questions about the universality of human experiences. You examine the behavior, ideas, and creative expressions of people within the specific contexts of different times and different societies. You practice suspending judgments of people from the past according to contemporary standards and instead try to understand their behavior in terms of their own underlying assumptions about life.

By undertaking the study of history in this way, you begin to search for more complex explanations of human differences and for the common humanity that can bridge those differences.

Beginning Requirements
HS CourseTake 1 course from 210 level (HS 211, HS 212 or HS-213) and 1 course from 310 level (HS 310 or HS-312), or take 1 course from 250 level (HS-250 or HS-251)4
Intermediate Requirements
HS-330Topics in US History4
Advanced Requirements
HUM-350Alternate World Views4
or HUM-351 Chinese Civilization & Cultures
or HUM-352 South Asia Civilization
or HUM-353 Latin American Civilizations
or HUM-355 Japan: Studies in Civilizations and Culture
or HUM-356 Latin American Civilizations-In Spanish
or HUM-358 Middle Eastern Civilization
HS-355Critical Perspectiv on the American Past4
or HS-375 Historical Analysis
or HS-451 Crit Prsp/Early Modern World, 1350-1750
Total Credits16