History Programs

Our program is built on a sequential four-year model:

Freshman Year – Enthusiasm

We want Evansville to be a home away from home. Faculty members take time to talk with each student regularly – either in a formal academic advising session or in a more comfortable setting like a picnic, concert, or ball game. Annually, the department hosts a picnic in the park and faculty chili night. At these events, in the classroom, or in professors' offices, students will spend time building lasting relationships.

Freshmen:

  • Examine the various approaches to the study of history.
  • Discuss assigned readings; respond to images, maps, poetry, or music; and make presentations.
  • Learn to listen and read critically.
  • Learn to be persuasive.

Advising

Good advising is critical to a student's success. Each student will be assigned a history faculty member as an academic advisor. Their office doors are always open, so each professor can get to know their students.

Career Planning

Starting in freshman year, we begin discussing each student's future plans. Faculty members introduce students to career planning as well as the Center for Career Development. Students will be monitored all four years to ensure a smooth transition from college to either graduate school or a career.

Sophomore Year – Competence

Courses

Our courses include Modern China and Japan, America in the 1960s; World War One: Africa and British Imperialism; Colonial America; The West and Islam in the Middle Ages; and the Civil War.

Global Curriculum

A global approach to education will be beneficial after graduation. This is why, in addition to an excellent American history component, we also offer courses that deal with Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. All majors are also encouraged to study abroad either at Harlaxton College or another international university.

Junior Year – Confidence

Students are encouraged to participate in internships and undergraduate research projects. Through meaningful experiences outside the classroom, students seek, explore, and identify their passion, which will impact the whole of their personal and professional development.

Senior Year – Expertise

Leadership

During students' final year at UE, they will take on a leadership role in the history department through the Society of History Scholars and our chapter of the national history honor society, Phi Alpha Theta. Students will also provide leadership support for the annual Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture.

Senior Course Work

Senior level courses are taught seminar style, with small enrollments. They focus on the specialized research topics of the faculty:

  • Decolonization in Africa (Daniel Byrne, PhD)
  • Rebellion and Revolution in Modern Ireland (Daniel Gahan, PhD)
  • War and Memory Since 1914 (James MacLeod, PhD)
  • War, Politics, and Gender (Annette Parks, PhD)

Senior Thesis

The senior thesis is a student's most significant piece of writing. At the end of the project, students will present their findings to the entire department. At that moment, the student will know more about that topic than anyone else in the room.

Past senior theses have included:

  • Medieval Midwives
  • Rural Life in Frontier Indiana
  • Reading Textbooks in French Colonial Africa
  • The Morality of Civilian Bombing in World War Two
  • Sexuality in the Renaissance
  • The Flu Epidemic of 1918