Elizabeth Sage, Chair
José Orozco
José Ortega

 

The Department of History offers a curriculum that is global in its approach and integral to a liberal arts education. A history major enables us to understand human beings and institutions around the world through the study of the human past. It encourages us to understand ourselves and our multiple communities through comparison with cultures of other times and places. In a world that is increasingly interconnected, the study of history is a particularly apt way for us to understand both how the world we live in came to be and our place in it. Indeed, the department strives to place all national and local histories into a global context.

Reflecting the department’s commitment to providing an education fit for a global world, the course sequence begins in the freshman year with an “Introduction to World History” and ends with a capstone seminar. Three courses in one world area offer depth, and one course in three other world areas contributes breadth of knowledge about the world.

HIST 101 - Introduction to World History  and 200-level courses serve as the foundational prerequisites for the 300-level courses. Students planning a History major should take History and Theory in the sophomore year, and Historical Methods in the junior year.

To help prepare students for the world of work or for graduate school, the History Department offers internship opportunities for students to gain work experience in a variety of educational or other settings, including museums, libraries, law offices, electoral politics, or non-profit organizations.

Programs

• History Minor
• History, B.A.

Courses

• HIST 101 - Introduction to World History
• HIST 200 - Europe Before 1700: The Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Worlds
• HIST 201 - Introduction to Modern European History
• HIST 206 - United States to 1865
• HIST 207 - United States Since 1865
• HIST 235 - Middle East: Muhammad to the Mongols
• HIST 236 - Islam, the Middle East, and the West
• HIST 245 - Introduction to Modern Central America
• HIST 280 - History and Theory
• HIST 290-01 (Fall) - History of California
• HIST 290-01 (Spring) - Our Story: Unearthing the Black History of Whittier College
• HIST 347 - Modern Mexico
• HIST 361 - Romantic Revolutions
• HIST 380 - Historical Methods
• HIST 390-01 (Spring) - Native American History, 1890-present
• HIST 480 - Capstone Seminar