Mission Statement
Through a curriculum that incorporates chronological depth and a range of social and cultural perspectives, the History Department at Elizabethtown College teaches students to understand, analyze and interpret the past, to evaluate critically the ways in which the past shapes their world, and to provide them with the requisite skills to communicate their ideas effectively. The Department prepares students for professional and graduate work in a variety of fields.
The faculty of the Department of History at Elizabethtown College subscribes to a teacher/scholar model and encourages students to take on independent research projects and/or internships that correspond to a scholarly interest of a faculty member.
The Department considers the study of history to be foundational to a liberal arts education. Since the study of history encompasses all recorded expressions of human activity–social, political, intellectual, cultural, and economic–from the earliest times to the present, it will necessarily introduce students to their own culture and to world cultures. In learning to analyze historical data, through the recognition of patterns and relationships, and by asking questions about and discovering the meaning of the past and its relationship to our modern world, students will gain an understanding of themselves and their world while becoming informed and engaged citizens.
Goals
Students who complete the B.A. degree in history should:
1. Possess broad knowledge and some specialized understanding of the diverse historical pasts of America, Europe, and the non-Western world;
2. Understand the basic scientific and humanistic methodology of history as an intellectual discipline including the direct experience of evaluating primary sources and secondary literature;
3. Demonstrate the ability to read, analyze, and write about historic topics;
4. Recognize historical analyses of human experience as a basic outlook of modern culture;
5. Be equipped to continue historical studies throughout life;
6. Have a working knowledge of a foreign language to assist in their future research and work;
7. Gain a worldwide perspective by taking courses that cover various regions of the world.
