Courses

The discipline of history seeks to understand how men and women have lived in different times and places, what they have thought and experienced, and how to use their records that have come down to us.

View full course descriptions in the catalog 

For a complete list of upcoming classes or to see course details, including dates, times and professors, please see the Registrar’s course schedule.

View course details in the schedule 

Sample Course Plan

A minimum of 36 credits in history is required for a major — but feel free to take as many as you want. See the course catalog for distribution requirements.

Meeting the requirements of your history major will look different depending on when you declare your major. Here are some sample plans based on the year when you declare.

Prior to the Freshman Year

	FALL SEMESTER	SPRING SEMESTER
YEAR 1	Pre-1500	HIST 140 & one HIST 200
YEAR 2	American	Non-Western
YEAR 3	Post-1500	Global
YEAR 4	Two electives	Seminar

Prior to the Sophomore Year

	FALL SEMESTER	SPRING SEMESTER
YEAR 2	HIST 140 & one HIST 200	American
YEAR 3	Pre-1500 & one elective	Post-1500 & one Global
YEAR 4	Seminar	Non-Western & one elective

Prior to the Junior Year

	FALL SEMESTER	SPRING SEMESTER
YEAR 3	HIST 140, one HIST 200 & pre-1500	Post-1500, American & non-Western
YEAR 4	Global & one elective	Seminar & one elective

Tips for History Students

Students have considerable latitude in the order in which they take their history classes. However, keep in mind a few general principles that will help you make the most of your history education at Hope:

• Take HIST 140 as early as possible. In this class you learn research and writing skills that will help you do well in all your history classes.
• Take a 200-level class before you take a 300-level class, as 300-level classes require more reading and writing than 200-level classes.
• For the purpose of challenging yourself, take full advantage of the wide variety of 200-level and 300-level classes offered after one or two survey courses at the 100 level.
• Because of significant content overlap, do not take HIST 130 and HIST 207, or HIST 131 and HIST 208. For example, if you have taken HIST 130, you could take either HIST 131 or HIST 208. If you have taken HIST 208, you could take either HIST 130 or HIST 207.
• A course can be counted toward no more than one distribution requirement.
• Finally, Hope offers many foreign language classes and study abroad opportunities. Take advantage of these to prepare for graduate study in history or simply to have a richer experience as a history major.