History

About the Department

Blain Roberts, Department Chair
Social Science Building, Room 101
559.278.2153
socialsciences.fresnostate.edu/historydept/

History is the study of humanity’s recorded past. It encompasses all aspects of human behavior, social organization, and cultural development. The arts and the sciences, the development of technology, and changing economic forces are as much a part of history as is politics or social conflict. History is also one of the broadest and most universal of the humanities. Just as the personalities of individuals are shaped through the totality of their past experiences, so cultures and institutions also develop in time.

Students of history are engaged in a journey through time in which they can witness and compare the development of a variety of cultures and the interrelations between people in many different circumstances. Through the study of past events, history provides a great storehouse of experience by which the theories of the other social sciences can be tested. And through its analysis of the development of institutions and cultures, it provides one of our best tools for understanding social phenomena.

The study of history can help students understand themselves and their culture better and develop a more tolerant and humane spirit toward others. In this way, knowledge of the past can help all of us meet the problems of today with greater understanding and compassion.

Program

The History Department offers a major and minor in history for the Bachelor of Arts degree, a graduate program leading to the Master of Arts, and courses for use in the teaching credential program. It participates in the interdisciplinary programs and minors in Armenian studies, Asian studies, classical studies, Latin American studies, African studies, Jewish studies, and women’s studies. History courses may also be used as electives toward graduation in most other majors, and the History Department encourages students to take minors and second majors in other fields as well.

The History Department is a chartered member of Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society. Our chapter is Alpha Kappa Beta.

What You Can Learn

• How immigration shaped the history of the Central Valley
• What caused the Civil War and why it matters today
• How to analyze material objects to understand the premodern histories of China, Japan, and Korea
• How imperialism, capitalism, and industrialization forged inequalities across and within the Global South
• What video and board games reveal about 20th-Century America
• How and why global feminist movements emerged in the 20th Century

Faculty

The Department of History has more than 15 faculty members offering a wide variety of courses in the history of Europe, the United States, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Career Opportunities

History majors are trained to read with comprehension and to compare and analyze both written and oral material. In addition, they must know how to evaluate evidence and sources, how to critique the writing of others, and how to do research and write on their own.

What You Can Do

Prepare for careers in:

• business
• law
• government service
• librarianship
• journalism
• publishing
• public relations
• social services
• urban planning
• foreign service
• insurance
• marketing
• advertising

Programs

• Jewish Studies, Certificate of Special Study

• History, B.A.

• History - Teaching Option, M.A.
• History, M.A.

• History, Minor
• Jewish Studies, Minor