Describing the History Major: Department of History and Political Science

The History Major

Department of History & Political Science

The major in history is recognized as one of the most valuable of the traditional liberal arts majors because of the several basic intellectual skills it develops, skills that are useful for a variety of personal or professional endeavors. Historical studies are foundational not only in general education, but also as a preparation for a number of careers involving higher order thinking. These considerations are discussed on a page entitled "Reasons for the Study of History". You may find several other helpful Web documents dealing with these questions at "What About History?" on the Department's Web Links page.

If your interest in history is at all associated with the prospect of teaching you should make plans from the start in order to meet the specific requirements of teacher preparation.

At Southwest Baptist University the major in history requires a minimum of 30 semester hours in addition to the nine hours of general education in history and political science. The history major consists of ten courses, three semester hours credit each (30 semester hours). This includes eight courses (24 semester hours) in history and two courses (6 semester hours) in political science. At least six of the history courses (18 semester hours) must be numbered 3000 or above. All students majoring in history are required to complete the Major Field Examination in history during their last semester.

For a detailed breakdown of the history major and its required supporting work, please visit The History Program Planner. Still more pertinent information is readily available via the "Course Offerings", or "Advisement", links from the menu at the left above. Or you may visit the PDF online section of the Catalog dealing with the History program. This link will open the Catalog to the departments in Schollian College where you will need to page down to Catalog pages 102-103.

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