History Major

The history major is designed to give students both a broad background in American, European, and World history and the ability to choose specialized courses from a wide-range of upper-division electives.  Students are also acquainted with historical research and writing and with historical thought through the sophomore-level seminar, The Historian's Craft, HIST 295 and the Senior Seminar, HIST 495.

The history major fulfills the E and A areas of the REAL Curriculum. Many upper division history classes fulfill the Writing Intensive (WI) requirement.

All requirements for the history major are outlined below.  Among the requirements are 39 credit hours of required courses.  Majors must also complete REAL education requirements and other university requirements for graduation.  A printable checksheet encapulates the below information: History Major Check Sheet.

6 hrs. HIST 101, 102, World History.
6 hrs. HIST 111, 112, U.S. History.
3 hrs. HIST 295, The Historian's Craft (Sophomore Year/must pass with a "C" or better)
4 hrs. HIST 495 Senior Seminar (Senior Year/must pass with a "C" or better)

3 Courses (9 hrs.) from Group US, 300-400 level, United States History.
2 Courses (6 hrs.) Group EU, 300-400 level, European History.
2 Courses (6 hrs.) Group GL, 300-400 level, Global: African, Asian, Latin American, or  Middle Eastern History.
(Students may not count any one course for more than one group.)

Group US Courses:  302, 306, 320, 330, 331, 352, 354, 355, 356, 360, 361, 364, 365, 368, 372, 373, 375, 381, 392.

Group EU Courses: 300, 303, 304, 307, 309, 311, 315, 333, 334, 335, 337, 338, 339, 341, 342, 343, 345, 346, 347, 349, 350, 393.

Group GL Courses: 300, 303, 304, 307, 311, 313, 314, 315, 316, 317, 322, 323, 325, 326, 345, 346, 347, 393.

Completion of a senior writing project (to be completed as part of HIST 495).

6-12 hrs.

B.A. Requirement: The Bachelor of Arts degree requires completion of the B.A. foreign language requirements as described in the undergraduate catalog.  History majors, particularly those planning graduate work in history, are strongly urged to pursue a B.A. degree.

B.S. Requirement: To complete a Bachelor of Science degree, history majors (with the approval of their advisors) must complete two courses from a list of approved B.S. degree requirement courses.  Please consult the history major degree requirements in the undergraduate catalog for a list of these approved courses.

To graduate with a major in history, a student must have a grade point average of 2.0 or higher in all courses taken with a HIST prefix.  A grade of "C" or better is required in HIST 295 and HIST 495.

Students wishing to teach history and other social studies at the secondary level (high school) must declare a Social Science major.  To strengthen credentials as a history teacher, students should consider a double major in both social science and history.

Students wishing to earn academic credit for an internship in history should consult with the history department's faculty internship advisor, Greg Ryder (jryder3@radford.edu, or Dr. Sharon Roger Hepburn (shepburn@radford.edu), the chair of the department.

The history department offers a departmental honors program. For a general description of the Honors Academy, please consult the Honors Academy website. For specific requirements of this department's programs, contact the department chair or the director of the Honors Academy.