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The Program History majors at MUW gain a hands-on encounter with the past. Whether it is interviewing war veterans or working with original documents in an archive, here you will experience what working historians experience. And you will do it with the help of the small classes and one-on-one contact with instructors for which MUW is known.
MUW's history major has the traditional goals of a liberal arts program: to help students to read, write, and think effectively, and independently. By reading and critiquing the work of professional historians, and by drawing their own conclusions from evidence, students sharpen their ability to think clearly. In class and in papers, they sharpen their ability to communicate clearly. By coming to understand how they themselves have been shaped by earlier generations, they come to the self-understanding that makes one free. The 2009-2010 MUW Bulletin lists requirements for the:
MUW's history faculty includes nationally and internationally known scholars who have taught, studied, or presented research in England, Scotland, Belarus, and Poland. They conduct original research in their fields, from the history of American film to medieval bishops, research that is used here and abroad. They have received support from various agencies, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Fulbright Foundation. But our history professors also use their scholarly work to benefit their students. One MUW professor published a collection of primary sources for students studying the history of western civilization. You could take classes using that collection at such universities as the University of Chicago, Ohio State University, New York University, and the University of Alabama - Tuscaloosa. Or you could study the collection under the historian who created it. Another of our professors developed an on-line mentor's program, through which students talk with experts in the U.S. and abroad about their work. This program has been imitated by other universities, such as Illinois State University, but MUW students take part under the historian who developed it. Or perhaps you would like to participate in another project, interviewing veterans of World War II or the Vietnam War; those interviews are deposited with the Mississippi Department of Archives and Museums, to be an enduring part of the historical record for researchers in the future.
The MUW History Major and the World Beyond And what will you do after graduation? You could become an historian, of course. But a history major is not just for professional historians. History majors find that the independence of mind, critical thinking, research skills, and effective communication fostered by majoring in history apply to a number of careers in management, insurance analysis, museum and archives administration, government service, secondary education, international relations, public relations, journalism, historic preservation, and politics, among others. The major also serves as preparation for a number of professional graduate programs (e.g., law, international relations as well as, of course, history). MUW History majors have gone on to graduate work in various programs, such as the University of Tennessee, Harvard University, and the University of Mississippi. Students interested in law school should consult our pre-law adviser, Professor Thomas Velek (Ph.D.--History; J.D.). The program is also compatible with teacher certification in social studies and is the only such program in northeast Mississippi which, with some summer work, prepares students to teach high school social studies in only four years. The curriculum includes discussions of career and graduate school opportunities, and the faculty assist majors in arranging professional internships. |
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