Studying humanity’s past, its hopes and frustrations, failures and triumphs, helps us both to understand our complex world and to take responsibility for shaping its future. Vital to the education of professional men and women of the 21st century, historical literacy and methodology improve our ability to judge and decide both private and public issues in a context of respect for our own and other peoples’ traditions. Only through a critical examination of human experience can we hope to avoid repeating mistakes and to build on successes, or assign meaning to our condition. These courses will develop critical thinking skills in an historical context, help students reflect on their own historical heritage, and build the cultural knowledge that unites many other areas of the Core.
CORE 131 Western Civilization to 1914
To increase the student’s appreciation for and understanding of the main stages of Western
Civilization from the foundations of human history to the West’s domination of the
globe at the beginning of the First World War. Students will examine major issues, including
gender and class, war, classical antiquity, Christianity, feudal society, capitalism,
the Reformation, democratic institutions, the international state system, nationalism,
and imperialism.CORE 133 World Civilizations 1453 to the Present
To increase the student’s appreciation for and understanding of the contact between cultures and civilizations, since the 15th century, when the world became knitted together through trade and conquest as never before. This class traces the development of this interconnectivity between and among cultures and civilizations to the present in order to better understand the history and meaning of globalization, its horrors and triumphs, perils and possibilities.
Courses offered in the category must have the following dimensions:
“Core:” Courses for this CART, which lacks a follow-up (such as Natural Science
II, Philosophy II), need to be broadly-based surveys that provide a foundational
basis for further learning in the liberal-arts tradition. While this
general-education requirement entails some breadth emphasized over depth,
thematic topics can be used to organize information and appeal to both
professional and student interest. These should not be so narrow, however, that
they seem more suitable for advanced study. Courses that can and should be
offered for upper-level major curricula are inappropriate for this Core CART. Selective moments of
close investigation of a subject are certainly necessary for developing student skills and
should be developed in these courses. Still, as Core courses, essential information about content
and methodology to understand historical issues should be conveyed in broad strokes when
limited to one course in one semester.
“Civilizations:” Students should understand how people, for good or ill, make
sense of their world through a broad constellation of geographical and ideological commonalities and disjunctures
within structures of politics,
economics, social and cultural attitudes toward such issues as the roles of science, technology,
art, literature, philosophy, and religion. Overall, this
category should provide students the basic tools and knowledge about civilizations which connect and divide people today.
One of the purposes of these classes are to question the nature of civilization
and attempt to come to some definition of its mechanics and transformations.
“Historical:” Courses in this category draw on the discipline of History and the
historical method. History here is broadly conceived, including attention to political
processes, as well as economic pressures, social constraints, psychological
inclinations, gendered perspectives, cultural achievements, and the
creation of historical narrative to explain these forces. Courses should not confine their
investigations to more narrow topics or subsets of history, such as military,
national, ethnic, intellectual, or technological history, that might be more appropriate
within other curricula or as advanced or upper-level courses in the major.
To appreciate historical approaches, students need to gain familiarity
with tertiary, secondary, and primary sources, some key terms of content, and
critical thinking skills as used by historians.
“Perspectives:” To understand any current human activity requires going into the
past. As written above, though, essential
information about content and methodology to understand historical issues
requires broad strokes when limited to one course in one semester. Drawing on essential theoretical perspectives should contribute to
understanding the institutions and attitudes that have changed our shared past
and are transforming our future. Students should acquire the tools to
understand our complex world from a multiplicity of perspectives. Ideally
courses should allow us to review our own positions as observers and understand
events, trends, and history itself as produced by many voices and
interpretations. Evaluating, and applying these varieties of
perspectives is one pleasure provided by these history courses in the Core.
A. Objectives for the student:
B. Goals for the student:
D. General Learning Outcomes for the student:
In addition to the more content-related objectives described above, this course has some general liberal-learning goals of developing academic skills. It is expected that successful completion of this course will help you improve your ability:
Readings of at least one book-length work; several shorter readings of primary sources.
12 to 15 pages of writing with at least one paper of 5 pages in length.
Periodic short quizzes.
Three exams, with increasing weight deeper into the semester. Exam questions should primarily be essay in nature.