HIS 101 History of Western Civilization to 1648
3 Semester Hours
This is an introductory level course on ancient, medieval, and early modern Western Civilization. Focusing on western European society from the Greeks to the seventeenth century, the course includes a discussion of the major civilizations in Europe during that time period and their contributions to the West. Students learn about Greco/Roman heritage, the Middle Ages and Christian heritage, the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution as defining events.
HIS 102 History of Western Civilization Since 1648
3 Semester Hours
An introductory level course, HIS 102 focuses on European society from the seventeenth through the twentieth century. It includes a discussion of such major events as the Enlightenment, European Fascism, the Fall of Communism, and the European Integration Movement.
HIS 103 United States History to 1865
3 Semester Hours
This course examines the social, cultural, economic, and political development of the United States to 1865. Through reading, writing, and discussion, students appreciate major movements, such as the Great Awakening, the American Revolution, the Market Revolution, and Jacksonian Democracy and how they shaped the new nation. They also become familiar with major figures, including Pocahontas, John Winthrop, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Dorothea Dix, Frederick Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln, from the colonial period through the Civil War.
HIS 104 United States History Since 1865
3 Semester Hours
This course explores the social, cultural, economic, and political development of the United States since 1865. Through reading, writing, and discussion, students analyze major currents, such as the Industrial Revolution, the New South, World Wars, the 1960s, and the Cold War. They also study major personalities, including John Rockefeller, Eugene Debs, Jane Addams, Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., and John F. Kennedy, from Reconstruction to the present.
HIS 110 Global History
3 Semester Hours
This course introduces students to a global perspective on history by: (1) examining the role of culture in individual and social behavior in various world civilizations; (2) comparing major civilizations as a whole and with regard to key features such as government, economic institutions, and culture; and (3) describing how the major civilizations have changed and interacted, particularly in the past few centuries.
HIS 210 European Renaissance and Reformation History
3 Semester Hours
This course provides a broad overview of the major cultural, political, and social changes in Early Modern Europe. Topics covered in the course include the Italian Renaissance, the Northern European Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the rise of absolutist monarchs and the formation of nation states, the Reformation and Catholic Reformation, the Commercial Capitalist Revolution, European colonization and imperialism, and the Glorious Revolution.
HIS 211 Humans and the Environment in Antiquity
3 Semester Hours
Why is the area once called Eden now a desert? How did Stone Age farming practices strip Greek mountains of their topsoil? Did earthquakes play a significant role in the collapse of civilizations at the end of the Mediterranean Bronze Age? Were Roman attempts to shape and control their environment successful? This course addresses these questions and others in an interdisciplinary introduction to the development of ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean urban centers and their lasting impact on the environment.
HIS 215 The History of 18th and 19th Century Europe
3 Semester Hours
This course provides a broad overview of the major cultural, political, and social changes associated with the emergence of Modern Europe. Topics covered in the course include the Enlightenment, Enlightened Despotism, the French Revolution and Napoleon, the Industrial Revolution, and 19th century European Imperialism.
HIS 220 United States Legal and Constitutional History
3 Semester Hours
This course provides a broad overview of the foundations of U.S. constitutional law, including a brief survey of Roman, Medieval, and British common law antecedents. Through readings, research, discussion, interaction, and simulation, students analyze the origins, content, and interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Special attention is paid to the Bill of Rights, the growing independence of the Supreme Court, and the impact of constitutional decisions on such public/private issues as discrimination, abortion, sexuality, and school prayer.
HIS 222 Industrialization of America: 1877-1920
3 Semester Hours
The mine shaft, railroad switch yard, urban tenement house, and mill floor provide a few of the compelling images of turn of the century America. Placing these and other images in historical context, this course undertakes an examination of the price of progress. Robber barons, wage workers, immigrants, and reformers struggled to see whose vision of America would prevail in the 20th century. Using a variety of media (historical analyses, letters, diaries, music, art, and photographs) students analyze and evaluate important social and cultural topics.
HIS 224 United States History Since 1945: The Historical Context of Generation X
3 Semester Hours
A study of the major political events and social movements in the United States since World War II. The course examines the Cold War, McCarthyism, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, student protests of the 1960s, the counterculture movement of the 1970s, the Women’s Movement, Watergate, the Reagan Revolution, environmental politics, and the rise of a global economy. Film, oral history, and primary sources from the periods studied play major roles in this course.
HIS 225 United States African American History
3 Semester Hours
A study of the major themes in African-American history from 1607 to the present, this course utilizes race as a tool for analysis. Topics covered include major themes, such as slavery, the Civil War, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Civil Rights movement, as well as prominent biographies, such as Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. Dubois, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and Fannie Lou Hamer.
HIS 250 History of Ancient Greece
3 Semester Hours
This course provides an introduction to the profoundly influential history of ancient Greece. It provides an historical context for such important developments as the origin of democracy, tyranny, imperialism, international diplomacy and law, the invention of coined money, competitive sports, human rights, and other innovations in art, architecture, drama, and literature that remain basic cornerstones of Western culture.
HIS 251 History of Ancient Rome and the Roman Empire
3 Semester Hours
This course provides an introduction to antiquity’s greatest empire and its powerful influence in the subsequent history of the West. Topics discussed include the foundation of Rome and its archaic history, the evolution from rule by kings to republican government, the wars of expansion, the rise of uncontrollably ambitious military leaders, the rule of emperors, the zenith of the Roman Empire, the challenges of Christianity within and barbarians without, and the final division and dissolution of the empire.
HIS 252 Greek and Roman Law
3 Semester Hours
HIS 252 introduces the law and the legal systems of ancient Greece and Rome. Along with the study of the distinctively different historical development of Greek and Roman law, students examine actual cases and discuss the underlying legal issues of such famous cases as the Athenian trial of Socrates for impiety, the Roman Republican homicide trial of Caelio, and the provincial trial of Jesus of Nazareth for subversion.
HIS 302 Environmental History
3 Semester Hours
Human beings have always modified their environment; but the scale of human activity has increased steadily since about 1700. Rapid technological change has provided the means for increased development of a world economy and larger nation-states. The result has been that environmental impacts have moved from a limited local and regional focus to becoming more global in recent decades. This course puts the increasing environmental effects of human values and culture into historical context. Students also research the environmental changes in a distinct bio-region or smaller place. Prerequisite: HIS 102, HIS 104, or permission of instructor.
HIS 303 History of Modern Science to 1800
3 Semester Hours
This course engages science and non-science students in a discussion of the nature of modern science and its relationship to society by focusing on the origins of modern science. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the major conceptual developments in science from the Scientific Revolution through the Enlightenment so that students gain an appreciation for the philosophical, social, and cultural contexts that have shaped science and defined the role of the scientist in the modern world. Prerequisite: HIS 102 or permission of instructor.
HIS 304 History of Modern Science 1800 to the Present
3 Semester Hours
This course engages science and non-science students in a discussion of the nature of modern science and its relationship to society in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The goal of the course is to introduce students to the major conceptual developments in science in the past two hundred years so that students gain an appreciation for the philosophical, social, and cultural contexts that have shaped science and defined the role of the scientist in the modern world. Prerequisite: HIS 102 or permission of instructor.
HIS 311 The Social and Political History of 20th Century Europe:
The Emergence of a Unified Europe 3 Semester Hours
Instead of presenting the history of Europe through the political prism of the nation- state, this course historically examines transnational social and political developments in 20th century Europe. This course also critically examines recent attempts to construct a unified Europe through such integrating mechanisms as the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Currency Unit (ECU), and the European Union (EU). Prerequisite: HIS 102 or permission of instructor.
HIS 312 20th Century European Cultural and Intellectual History:
The Emergence of a Postmodern Culture 3 Semester Hours
This course examines transnational cultural and intellectual trends in 20th century Europe. The tendency toward homogeneity and the influence of the U.S. culture on European popular culture are explored along with trends in European academia. In particular, this course focuses on the transition from modernism to postmodernism in European academia by looking at such writers as Whitehead, Wells, Foucault, LeviStrauss, and Derrida. Prerequisite: HIS 102 or permission of instructor.
HIS 323 History of Southeastern Native Americans
3 Semester Hours
Beginning with a broad introduction to prehistoric Native culture, this course emphasizes the historical era experiences of southern native Americans. Topics include the Spanish conquistadors, the Columbian exchange, missionary movements, the early Indian wars, the Trail of Tears, civilization programs, boarding schools, the Indian New Deal, the American Indian Movement, and the Indian Renaissance. Primarily a reading and discussion seminar. Prerequisite: HIS 103, HIS 104, or permission of instructor.
HIS 353 U.S. Women’s History
3 Semester Hours
This class explores the gender issues that have shaped American history, from Native American women in the pre-colonial era to the modern feminist movement. Students will discuss the shifting nature of gender from Pocahontas and Abigail Adams to Margaret Sanger and Rosie the Riveter. This is a reading and discussion seminar, which includes substantial exploration of primary documents. Prerequisite, HIS 103, HIS 104, or permission of instructor.
HIS 354 History of the Southern United States
3 Semester Hours
This course takes a probing look at the myths and realities of the colonies and states that would become the Confederate States of America and eventually the New South. This is a reading and discussion seminar that will look at the development of Southern political and economic systems, slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, segregation, the creation of Appalachia, and the southern movement for Civil Rights. Substantial contact with primary sources and material culture will help students look at the competing ideas of what it means to be a southerner. Prerequisite: HIS 103, HIS 104, or permission of instructor.
HIS 355 North Carolina History
3 Semester Hours
Although North Carolina history is largely a readings course, it surveys state history from the colonial period to the present. We will explore the tensions between New South, Old South and Sunbelt through such topics as the Catawba Indians, the Roanoke Colony, the Regulator movement, Battle of Kings Mountain, slavery, Zebulon Vance, segregation, the tobacco empire, cotton mills, the Greensboro Sit-ins, Jesse Helms, Harvey Gant, and Grandfather Mountain. A readings, discussion, and research class, North Carolina History will devote substantial time to individual student presentations and guest speakers. Prerequisite: HIS 103, HIS 104, or permission of instructor.
HIS 401 Historiography
3 Semester Hours
Through discussion and reading, students explore major issues in the philosophy of history and examine the nature and history of historical writing (historiography). The goal of this course is to help young historians develop their own philosophy of history by studying the major schools of historical thought. Prerequisite: junior status and history major.
HIS 402 Historical Methodology
3 Semester Hours
Through discussion, reading, and practical research and writing exercises, students explore the major methodological issues in historical writing. The goal of this course is for students to actively engage in the practice of doing history. Prerequisite: HIS 401.
HIS 420 Special Topics in American History Variable credit
This course allows students to probe more deeply into a specialized topic in U.S. history. Topics may be broadly focused (race or gender) or narrowly focused (the Great Depression or the Populist Movement). Prerequisite: HIS 104 or permission of instructor.
HIS 430 Special Topics in European History Variable credit
This course allows students to probe more deeply into a specialized topic in European history. Topics may be broadly focused (race or gender) or narrowly focused (the Holocaust or the Enlightenment). Prerequisite: HIS 102 or permission of instructor.