History

Return to: Undergraduate Department and Program Information

Department Chair-Carlson
Professors-Bowman, Carlson, Mayer, Pantsov
Associate Professor-George, Loopstra

History is the study of the record of human past. We see history not only as a collection of facts, but we see history as the interpretation of facts. This process of historical interpretation helps to develop critical reading skills and analytical thinking skills. The interpretation of history allows us to see patterns and trends, and thus give meaning to history so that we can make the past relevant for the present, or as the historian Samuel Eliot Morison said, ”to relate the past creatively to the present.”

The study of history, as offered at Capital, gives students the opportunity to study and interpret the varied and diverse past of human history.

Because no other discipline offers such a wide and diverse study of the human experience, history is an invaluable background for a student. Employers are seeking people capable of organizing and analyzing information-the very kind of background a study of history provides. With a history major a student can enter many careers, including teaching, museum or historical society work, foreign service, journalism, law or government work.

Return to: Undergraduate Department and Program Information