Learning Goals
The mission of the History Department is to cultivate within our community the lifelong habit of actively engaging and critically questioning the relationship between past, present, and future. We affirm that everyone has a history and that, as global citizens, exploring those histories matters.
Learning Goals
Upon graduation, Ursinus history majors will:
1. Recognize and question their positionality and responsibility as historians in the world.
2. Respect and investigate the ambiguity and complexity of human experience.
3. Actively reflect on the forces and inequalities that have and continue to shape the world and our knowledge of it.
4. Seek out and value multiple perspectives and a variety of evidence before arriving at a conclusion.
Learning Outcomes
Ursinus history majors will achieve these goals by:
1. Understanding multiple historical narratives in and about the world, of which American history is but one.
2. Understanding and explaining different and competing theoretical perspectives and cultural practices that generate/shape historical knowledge.
3. Evaluating and critically questioning the central competing narratives, temporal constructs, and debates in global history.
4. Accurately and persuasively communicating historical knowledge to a wide range of audiences in different media.
5. Analyzing contemporary phenomena, including the dominant ideas, sociopolitical forces, and power dynamics that shape any given society, within historical contexts.
6. Actively exercising collaboration and leadership skills with peers and mentors.
7. Designing original lines of critical inquiry and selecting, analyzing and synthesizing historical evidence and theoretical perspectives to create new knowledge.