Program of History Assessment

DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Department of Culture and Society is to encourage a life-long passion for learning and a quest for knowledge, within the Social Sciences, by providing an environment that fosters academic excellence and free inquiry. We encourage the development of ethics and values that recognize knowledge in all its diverse and creative forms.

DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY VISION STATEMENT

The vision of the Department of Culture and Society is to provide nationally recognized Bachelors degrees for those entering careers or continuing their education; and to be recognized locally, regionally and nationally as providing exemplary and innovative programs in the Social Sciences.

PROGRAM OF HISTORY MISSION STATEMENT

The Program of History is dedicated to excellence in undergraduate education and preparing students for a diversity of professions within a global society. The History faculty is committed to the advancement of reading, writing, research, critical thinking, and analytical and interpretive proficiencies of its majors.

PROGRAM OF HISTORY COMPETENCIES:

A student will investigate the history of numerous cultures and assess both United States and European history beyond Western and into Asian and African history;
A student will demonstrate research skills necessary to describe, contrast, discuss, differentiate, interpret, restate, appraise, investigate, connect, evaluate, and conclude the history of various cultures and epochs;
A student will distinguish the meaning of conceptual information and apply previously learned information;
A student will articulate history in various presentation modes;
A student will validate their ability to work with others, non-academics, in historical research and presentation of findings;
A student will express an interest in and recognize various historical cultures and articulate the same to academics and non-academics; and
A student will differentiate the organizational structure of information, apply prior knowledge and research skills, and judge the relative value of historical information based on prior knowledge.

PROGRAM OF HISTORY CORE OBJECTIVES:

PHCO No. 1: Nurture critical understanding, sensibility of the past, and advancement of intellectual, analytical, and rhetorical abilities;
PHCO No. 2: Augment students’ aptitude to reason historically and to nurture a recognition of the contested nature;
PHCO No. 3: Assess historical knowledge by encountering the diversity of means in which historians appeal to and render the past;

PHCO No. 4: Engage matters of contention that incite historical debate; and
PHCO No. 5: Experience the nature and practices of historical evidence

PROGRAM OF HISTORY CORE OUTCOMES:

Historical Consciousness, Perspective, and Recognition: Graduates of the Program of History shall be able to acknowledge the varieties of cultural experiences in history. Specifically, graduates shall exhibit that they: have obtained a basic knowledge of the alternating lore’s and connotations that have maintained western, non-western or pre-modern cultures and societies; can interpret the historical maturation of events, institutions, or social values; can profess historical queries regarding the obstacles that encompass human history and historical continuities and discontinuities; and can exhibit how the past is applicable to the present by affixing a critical perspective to history.

Historical Research Skills: Graduates of the Program of History shall master the nature of historical interpretation, the variety of historical sources, and the structure of historical argument, and be able to employ that understanding by addressing historical questions. Specifically, graduates shall demonstrate that they can: present a notable historical research question about history; locate pertinent primary and secondary sources for analyzing a research question; discern primary and secondary sources in terms of plausibility, authenticity, interpretation, audience, inclination, and value for addressing the research question; evaluate sources impartially and rigorously to address a research question; and direct evidence from research to buttress a historical argument to answer a research question.

Historical Expression: Graduates of the Program of History shall be able to demonstrate that they are knowledgeable and discriminating users and producers of history. Specifically, graduates shall demonstrate that they: can affix a critical perspective to appraise historical arguments, embrace the quality of sources, the validity of the interpretations of sources, and the soundness of the argument’s use of evidence to sustain a historical interpretation; and have mastered the oral and written forms of communication fitting to history.

PROGRAM OF HISTORY SEVEN CURRICULUM ELEMENTS:

Authoritative research and writing opportunities;
Diversification of classroom interactions;
Combination of studies concentrating on studies focusing on deepness;
Occasions to discover diverse global cultures;
Engagement with events prior to contemporary times;
Advancement of the means by which historians perform their work and the theoretical deliberations that undergird that work; and
Integration of various diversified courses the curriculum offers