Study history. Understand the world. Be an agent for change in the world.
The study of history prepares you to think critically, argue logically, and to examine the legacies of people and events across time and space. History helps you analyze the values of their society and those of other societies, as well as grapple with the responsibilities of informed citizenship.
With a history degree, you will enter the workforce with the ability to recognize the fundamental importance of context, perspective, and contingency to the changes and continuities that occur between individual lives, communities, countries, and continents. You will acquire not just a firm knowledge of the past, but also develop an invaluable way to approach and analyze the world.
The Department of History and Social Sciences fulfills Marian University’s mission to prepare transformative leaders with excellent teaching and learning in the Franciscan and liberal arts tradition by offering a well-rounded course of studies that promotes both academic excellence and an appreciation of humanity's diverse history.
The history curriculum is designed around specific goals:
We accomplish these goals in the following ways:
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." Howard Zinn
To earn the 128-credit Bachelor of Arts in History degree, you will complete at least 36 credits of courses focused on history, including five core courses:
Sample Four-Year Plan and Checklist
History Minor Checklist
Double Major in History and Secondary Education Four-Year and Checklist
The Department of History and Social Sciences at Marian University has working relationships with a growing number of local organizations that provide our students with opportunities to develop their skills through guided internships.
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Notice of Nondiscrimination
Marian University does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, sex, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, age or disabilities in the selection of administrative personnel, faculty and staff, and students.
*Placement rates are gathered from data collected from graduates within six months of graduation.
Students may make a complaint to the Indiana Commission of Higher Education.
Marian University is sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg, Indiana.
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