Academic Programs
and Majors

History Major

Augmented
History Major


Future Preparation

Department Faculty

History at Houghton

Houghton offers both a major and a minor in history, as well as an augmented history major for future secondary-school teachers. The history major consists of 24 credit hours (normally, eight three-hour courses) plus the three-hour Senior History Seminar. This major gives students considerable flexibility. Except for the required seminar, students choose the history courses they want; because the number of total required hours (27) is relatively small, it is not difficult for students to add a second       major. The history minor consists of any 12 credit hours of history.

The augmented history major (36 hours) is designed to equip students who want to teach at the secondary level, where social studies or civics, as well as history, is also typically part of the teaching load. Students take six hours in American history; six hours in European history; and six hours in non-European, non-American history. In addition to history, “augmented” students also take courses in World Regional Geography (three hours); Principles of Microeconomics (three hours); and The American Political System (three hours). Finally, augmented history students choose between a full history track and a political science track: either six hours of history electives plus the Senior History Seminar or six hours of political science electives plus the Senior Politics Seminar. 

Houghton offers a wide-ranging history curriculum. In addition to various period courses in American and European history, the course offerings include regional histories of Latin America, Africa, East Asia, and Russia. Some history students spend a semester or two studying abroad. More specialized topical courses are also available: History of Christianity; Pagans and Christians: Ancient and Medieval Texts; American Women’s History; Salem Witchcraft: 300 Years of Conjuring Interpretations; Historiography; and a Reading Seminar (popular with students considering graduate work). Qualified students may do Independent Study, which enables students to study--even intern in--areas of special interest to them. A growing number of students do internships in “public history.”

The history faculty is composed primarily of three professors, each of whom holds the Ph.D. and is a published scholar. Additionally, other scholars from around the college offer interdisciplinary courses in history related to their major fields. The faculty has a tradition of enthusiasm for scholarship, as reflected in Houghton’s high national ranking for history majors who go on to earn the Ph.D. Many of our students have attended some of the finest graduate schools in the country. 

Despite the variety of courses and instructors, the history faculty shares fundamental beliefs that lend coherence to the study of history at Houghton. We believe that, especially in lower-level courses, mastery of content is essential to a good education. We also believe, however, that students must develop skills of reading, writing, research, methodology, and analysis. We see the cultivation of these skills—honed especially in upper-level courses and put to final undergraduate test in the Senior History Seminar—as essential to our identity as a liberal arts discipline, to responsible Christian reflection, and to mature historical understanding. We believe that the study of history is facilitated by Christian faith, and that Christian faith is enhanced by historical study. In a relativistic world, history can give us a longer, larger perspective on enduring truths. Central to our mission is the use of historical lenses to investigate vital questions about who we are, what we believe, why we believe, and the meaning of human existence.

Acquiring historical knowledge and related skills also has practical value. It is no accident that employers of almost every kind have found our history graduates attractive. What employer is not looking for persons who have been carefully trained to think, research, and communicate? What employer would not appreciate employees who, because of undergraduate training in the broadest, most interdisciplinary of all academic fields, possess a “sense of the whole?”