History

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Faculty

Laura E. Brade, assistant professor.

B.A., Pacific Lutheran University; M.A.,  Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Appointed 2017.

Joseph W. Ho, assistant professor.

B.A., University of California, San Diego.; M.A.,  Ph.D., University of Michigan. Appointed 2017.

Marcy S. Sacks, Julian S. Rammelkamp Professor of History. Department Chair
B.S., Cornell University; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley. Appointed 1999.

Christopher T. Riedel, assistant professor.

B.A.,  University of Virginia; M.A., Boston College; Ph.D., Boston College.  Appointed 2017.

Abigail Meert, assistant professor.

B.A.,  University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; M.A., Emory University; Ph.D., Emory University.  Appointed 2022.

Affiliated Faculty

Trisha Franzen, professor of women’s and gender studies.
B.A., State University of New York, Buffalo; M.A., Ph.D.,  University of New Mexico. Appointed 2003.

Midori Yoshii, associate professor of international studies.
B.A.,  M.A.,  Tsuda College Tokyo; M.A., Ph.D.,  Boston University. Appointed 2004.

Introduction

The History Department’s mission asks:

How did people live in the past?
What forces and factors shaped their lives?
How did their choices shape the world we live in today?

The mission of the History Department is to foster creative and analytical thinkers who are interested in questions of how human societies change over time. History students learn to discern the institutional, ideological and material conditions that shape the ways in which people interact with one another, whether in the context of a given society or across societies. They learn that prevailing historical explanations are themselves subject to questioning and refashioning, and they become aware of how different explanations influence present-day perceptions. By analyzing primary and secondary sources and by communicating the results of their analysis in compelling, cogent prose, students also learn to become active participants in the writing and critiquing of history itself.

History Department Website

Career Opportunities

As they study the past, history majors obtain analytical and writing skills and develop an appreciation of long-range trends. Graduates therefore enter fields from futures forecasting and management training to the law, public service and journalism. The knowledge gained as a history major can also lead to careers in teaching–secondary and college–as well as archival and museum work. Finally, students have the opportunity to experience personal development through the study of the past–useful in all careers, as in life itself.

Students planning graduate work in history should include advanced course work in at least one foreign language. Completion of a thesis is also highly recommended.

Special Features

• Students are encouraged to participate in Albion’s off-campus programs. Experience elsewhere in the U.S. or in a foreign country–whether for a summer, a semester or a year–provides a rich background for history majors.
• The faculty of the Department of History urge qualified and interested history majors to consider writing an honors thesis in history. Successful completion of the thesis will result in graduation with departmental honors in history. Candidates for honors must have a 3.0 grade point average or above in the major and must form a committee composed of two faculty members to supervise the thesis work. At least one of the committee members must be from the Department of History, although the department encourages the participation of faculty members from other disciplines and the pursuit of interdisciplinary work in general. The thesis may be based on earlier course work, but such papers must be significantly revised and expanded for submission as a departmental honors thesis.

Each thesis candidate must schedule at least one full unit of directed study (i.e., two 411s or one 412) in a semester (or semesters) immediately prior to the semester the thesis is due. It is recommended that a draft of the entire thesis be completed by the end of the last semester of directed study prior to the semester the thesis is due.

The name of each thesis candidate and the working title of the thesis must be submitted to the Prentiss M. Brown Honors Institute director by September 15 for May graduates and by April 15 for December graduates. For spring semester, the deadline for completion of the thesis is April 1; for fall semester the deadline is December 1. Each thesis committee will determine the procedures and schedule for meeting the completion deadline. Honors theses in history must conform to The Chicago Manual of Style. Copies of the guidelines for the preparation and submission of theses are available from the Brown Honors Institute director.

Departmental Policy on Advanced Placement Credit
Students who earn a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement (AP) exam in European history will receive one unit of credit for HIST 103 .
Students who earn a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement exam in United States history will receive one unit of credit for HIST 101 .
Students who earn a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement exam in world history will receive one unit of credit for HIST 190.
Only two 100-level history courses may be counted toward the history major.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the History B.A. major can:

1. 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.
2. Develop historical 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.
3. Create historical arguments and narratives.
   • 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.
4. Use historical perspective as central to active citizenship. 
   • Apply historical knowledge and historical thinking to contemporary issues.
   • Distinguish the past from our very different present and identify present events as influenced by the past.

Students who complete the History B.A. with Elementary or Secondary Education Certification BA can:

1. 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.
2. Develop historical 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.
3. Create and teach historical arguments and narratives.
   • Generate substantive, open-ended questions about the past and develop research strategies to answer them.
4. Use historical perspective as central to active citizenship. 
   • Apply historical knowledge and historical thinking to contemporary issues.
   • Distinguish the past from our very different present and identify present events as influenced by the past.
5. Students will be able to complete requirements for eligibility for certification.

Students who complete the History minor can:

1. 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.
2. Develop historical methods.
   • Recognize history as an interpretive account of the human past—one that historians create in the present from surviving evidence.
   • 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.
3. Create historical arguments and narratives.
   • Answer substantive, open-ended questions about the past.

Programs

• History, B.A.
• History, with Secondary Education Certification, B.A.

• History Minor
• History, with Secondary Education Certification, Minor

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