History

Jonathan Wells

Chair

jdwells@temple.edu

Benjamin Talton

Director of Undergraduate Studies

923 Gladfelter Hall

talton@temple.edu

Stephanie Tschanz, Administrator
913 Gladfelter Hall
215-204–7461
steph712@temple.edu

www.temple.edu/history

The faster our lives change, the more we need to understand our past, reflect on our present, and make decisions for our future. History helps us to understand who we are and where we came from. It provides unique insights and perspectives for our personal and professional pursuits.

The History Department divides its courses between American History, European History, and non-Western History. Within each division, one can choose history courses in political, diplomatic, social, cultural, economic, gender, and ethnic history.  Students should concentrate in one field of history and also be well-versed in the three main divisions.

Temple History graduates have gone into a wide range of careers; business, law, politics, education, historical preservation, and information resources are just a few of the many areas. History arms the student for a maximum amount of flexibility for career choices.

Temple students regularly participate in the intellectual life of the region through their connections to such organizations and institutions as the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, the Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies, the Pennsylvania Historical Society, the Atwater Kent Museum, and the American Philosophical Society.

The Department of History offers an Honors Program for majors with outstanding academic records. Qualified majors are invited to join Phi Alpha Theta, the History honor society. Both minors and majors participate in the Undergraduate History Association. Special Programs allow undergraduates to major in History and earn teaching certification, or to major in history and earn a Master's in Education in five years (program administered through the School of Education).

The History Major

The history major consists of a step approach. Courses numbered 0800 through 1999 are introductory level; courses numbered 2000-2999 are intermediate level, and courses numbered 3000–4999 are advanced level. Courses with "9" as a second digit are honors courses and are usually restricted to honors students.

The history major requires twelve courses (36 credits). Students must take two introductory level courses, of which one is selected from courses numbered 0800–1099 and one from courses numbered 1100–1999. Three courses (9 credits) are required at the 2000 level. Three elective courses (9 credits) are required at the 3000 level. All history majors take two required writing seminars: in the Junior year, students take a 3000 level writing course and in the Senior year, they take a complimentary Capstone course at the 4000 level.  All writing intensive courses end in -96, -97 or -98.  Finally, students may select two history courses (6 credits) at any level. 

– Within these broad requirements, students must complete a minimum of two courses in U.S. history, two courses in European history, and three courses in Asian, African, Latin American or Global/Comparative history.

– Two of the courses in any category or level must be predominantly pre-1900 in content.

– Students should take four courses that represent an area of concentration based on some geographic or thematic intellectual rationale. The area of concentration should be defined in writing and approved by a departmental advisor ideally at the start of the junior year and no later than the start of the senior year.

Summary of Degree Requirements

1. University Requirements:

• Mathematics 0701 (4 s.h.) and/or English 0701 (4 s.h.), if required by placement testing.
• All Temple students must take a minimum of two writing-intensive courses as part of the major. See below for a list of the specific courses required for your major.
• Students must complete requirements of the General Education (GenEd) Program. See the General Education section of the Undergraduate Bulletin for more details.

2. College of Liberal Arts Requirements:

• Completion of a minimum of 123 credits, including: 90 credits in CLA/CST courses, 45 credits of which must be at the upper level (numbered 2000-4999). For Social Science majors, 6 upper level credits must be taken in the Humanities Departments (English, French, German, Greek and Roman Classics, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese (only available at our Japan campus), Philosophy, Religion, Russian, and Spanish), Art History, or any department in the College of Science and Technology.
• A minimum GPA of 2.0, cumulatively, in CLA/CST coursework, and in the major.
• Only courses in which a student receives a grade of at least C- can satisfy GenEd, major, minor, or CLA Foreign Language and Global Studies requirements.

3.  Foreign Language/Global Studies Requirements:

• 1) All students must complete the second level of a foreign language;
• 2) All students must complete at least one course from the GenEd Global/World Society category; and
• 3) All students must complete one of the following options:
  • Third level of a foreign language;
  • Demonstrated proficiency in a foreign language;
  • A second General Education Global/World Society course;
  • Study Abroad at an approved program; or
  • Take one Global Studies course from the list on the CLA College Graduation Requirements page.

4. History Major Requirements (36 s.h.)

NOTE: These twelve courses have both level and subject matter distributions.  Any given course may count in both Category A (level) and Category B (content area) and possibly Category C as well.  Please see the course descriptions for more information on which category/categories are applicable.

• CATEGORY A - COURSE LEVEL
  • One history course numbered between 0800 and 1099
  • One history course numbered between 1100 and 1899
  • Three history courses at the 2000 level
  • Three history courses at the 3000 level
  • One junior writing seminar in history at the 3000 level
  • One senior/capstone writing seminar in history at the 4000 level
  • Two history courses at any level
• CATEGORY B - CONTENT AREA
  • Two courses in American history
  • Two courses in European history
  • Three courses in Global/Comparative History, Asian, African, or Latin American history
• CATEGORY C- TIME PERIOD
  • Two courses must focus on a pre-1900 period

5. General electives vary according to a student's individual program of study. Consult your academic advisor for more information.

Requirements for the Major

*Please note that the courses above also must satisfy the following content area distributional requirement: two U.S. History courses, two European History courses, and three Asian, African, Latin American or Global/Comparative History courses.  Please note also that at least two of the twelve courses used to complete the major must be pre-1900 History courses.

Distinction in Major

To receive Distinction in Major, students must complete History 4934: Honors Historiography and Research Methods, and History 4997: Honors Thesis Seminar. The end product of the Honors Thesis Seminar is an Honors Thesis, which the student will present at a scholarly conference sponsored by the department. The Honors Thesis will also fulfill the History major’s thesis/capstone requirement. Students must maintain a 3.4 GPA in all history courses and a 3.4 GPA in Temple courses overall. Students who are not in the University Honors Program will require special permission to enroll in History 4934 and 4997 – see the History Honors Scholar Program Director, Jay Lockenour (jay.lockenour@temple.edu).

History Honors Program

To participate in the History Honors Scholar Program, you must first apply to the University Honors office. Any History major who has earned or is in the process of earning 60 credits and has roughly a 3.7 cumulative GPA can apply for the program. The application form is available on the Honors web site: http://honors.temple.edu/. Students in the program take six courses (18 credits), including History 4934: Honors Historiography and Research Methods, History 4997: Honors Thesis Seminar, and four upper-level Honors electives (any department). With careful planning, these Honors courses can ALSO fulfill the requirements for the History major, so that students need not delay graduation. For example, the Honors Thesis Seminar (4997) fulfills the normal "capstone/writing" requirement, and the electives, if chosen from History offerings, will also fulfill major requirements. Students must maintain a 3.4 GPA in History and a 3.4 GPA overall.  Make an appointment to meet with the Director of the History Honors Scholar Program, Jay Lockenour (jay.lockenour@temple.edu), for advice on completing the application and to discuss your intellectual interests.

Requirements for the Minor

A History minor is an ideal complement to other majors and programs at Temple, from medicine to journalism, from computer science to finance, from film to marketing. Students with a minor in history are required to take six (6) courses totaling eighteen (18) semester hours. Of the six courses, at least two (2) must be numbered 2000 or above and at least one courses (1) must be numbered 3000 or above.

Suggested Semester-by-Semester Plan