The History Major

Students who wish to receive the B.A. degree with a major concentration in history must take a minimum of thirty-six semester hours of history in addition to the regular general education requirements for the B.A. degree. Among those thirty-six hours must be included History 1310 and 1320 (World Civilization), 2310 and 2320 (United States), 3377 (Historiography and Methods), 4380 (Senior Reserch Seminar), six semester hours of advanced United States history courses, six hours of advanced world history courses, and six hours of advanced courses in either United States or world history. The student must get a “C” grade or better in each of these courses for it to count toward the major.

Students seeking the B.A. degree with a major in history must also complete the second year of a foreign language at the college (not high school) level or demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language equivalent to completion of the second year of that language.

To take history as a minor on the B.A. degree, students must earn a minimum of eighteen semester hours in history, including History 1310, 1320, 2310, 2320, and six advanced hours.

The History Department Honors Program is designed for students who are unusually competent or show exceptional promise in history.

Requirements for admission to Departmental Honors in History:

3.25 GPA overall;
3.25 GPA in history;
Completion of 60 hours of college work;
Completion of 15 hours in history.

The Honors Program in History includes the following components, all of which the student must complete in order to graduate with honors in history:

Honors Tutorial (History 4X96*, 3-6 hours): The student will demonstrate ability in historical and historiographical analysis, as well as mastery of facts and interpretation.

Senior thesis (History 4X97*, 1-3 hours): The student will have a topic and research strategy approved by department and Honors Committee;
demonstrate gathering and analysis of data, skill in composition (organization, usage, style), and mastery of the scholarly apparatus;
present findings orally to the department and/or other forum (West Texas Historical Association, Texas State Historical Association, Phi Alpha Theta, etc.)
The Senior Thesis involves an independent research project which might involve work in libraries at other colleges and universities. Depending on the topic, the student may be required to utilize interviews, materials in a language other than English, computer generated and analyzed data, etc. Senior Thesis projects are related to topics which are within the research interest and experience of the history department faculty.

Satisfactory completion of a total of 7 hours in honors courses.

Satisfactory completion of a minimum of 24 hours in history (including History 4X96* and 4X97*).

Honors Courses in history (4X96*, 4X97*) may be applied toward the semester hour requirements for major, minor, or teaching field in history.