Students and their families visited the History Department table to learn about studying History at UCSB.
On Saturday, April 13th, the History Department’s information table at the Spring Insight Open House offered information and advice about the History major at UCSB.
Why study history at UCSB instead of at another UC campus? Besides the obvious advantages of our climate and location, UCSB’s History program offers a broad array of courses from all eras and most geographical regions. Some of our special strengths are visible in the Affiliated Programs section at the bottom of our homepage: Borderlands, Cold War and International Relations, Gender Studies, Labor Studies, Medieval, and Middle East. Public Policy, in which we offer a separate major (requirements), and History of Science are also specialties. Click on the FIELDS tab in the menu bar above for a list of concentrations.
The best History majors are selected each year to participate in the two-quarter Senior Honors Thesis seminar. Students in this seminar conduct original research in archives across the country, write a 60-100 page thesis, and present their findings at a university-wide research colloquium each spring.
The course requirements for the major are listed on our Undergrad Program page. In short, they are:
1. Two 3-quarter sequence courses, chosen from World, Western Civilization, and US History.
2. Two lower division (freshman/sophomore level, no prerequisites; numbered 1-99) elective courses
3. Ten upper division (numbered 100-199) courses, at least one of which is a seminar (P or DR in course number).
In the case of double majors with other programs or departments (Global Studies, Political Science, for example), up to two courses from one dept. can be used to fulfill requirements in the other.
For a History Minor 3 lower division and 5 upper division courses are the required minimum.
A special feature of this website allows you to view course syllabi of current and past courses, to find out the requirements (readings, papers, exams) and daily topics of most courses. Click here or go to the COURSES link in the menu bar at top. Each Download link is a course syllabus.
For more information on the open house, see the:
Spring Insight homepage with schedule of events and maps.
hm 4/11/13; jwil 11.iv.2013, hm 4/15, jwil 22.iv.2013