2023-2024 BSC Catalog Updated_UG ONLY_FINAL[82]

ACADEMIC PROGRAMS
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written communication skills. A primary concern of the study of history is change. The
student who is conscious of the continuous process of change is better prepared for the
conditions of change taking place today.
The concentration in public history prepares students for careers and advanced degrees in
public history, an exciting and challenging field that has experienced strong growth in
recent decades. Public historians practice history outside of the academic classroom by
serving as mediators of historical knowledge in partnership with the public and
community institutions through preserving and interpreting historical records and using
them to contextualize important issues for today’s public. This can be done through many
venues and media, including museums, libraries, living history sites, documentary film,
historic preservation, historical societies, government service, and physical and digital
archives. Students graduating with the concentration in public history fulfill the
requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in history and take additional courses, including an
introductory course, an internship with a partnering institution, and other courses outside
of history that complement their training in the field.
Historical study provides a training that also helps prepare students for graduate
study and for widely varied careers in teaching, law, the church, government, social
services, diplomatic service, museums, libraries, business, journalism, and other
fields.
Upon completion of the history major, students will be able to
• articulate a thesis that is historical and argumentative
• compose an historical argument using primary sources in support of an
appropriate thesis
• engage with secondary sources by situating one’s own thesis and argument
within the topic’s historiography
Major Requirements
Major in History
The following courses are required (11 units):
HI 102, and either HI 103 or HI 110
HI 151 or HI 155
HI 152
HI 300
HI 400
five elective units, two at the 200 level and three at the 300 level;
at least one must be in United States history, one in European
history, and one in Latin American, Asian, or Middle Eastern history
Birmingham-Southern College Catalog 2023-2024