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- Tentative History Course Offerings 2024-2025
- Join the History Email List
- History Senior Paper Guide
- History Honors Declaration Form
Associated Faculty
- Dr. Will Burghart
- Dr. Gordon R. Barnes Jr.
- Dr. Mary Hanneman
- Dr. Libi Sundermann
- Dr. James Breen
- Dr. Johann Reusch
History Undergraduate Theses Digital Commons is a digital repository of our best undergraduate theses over the years
Career Options
As Pierce County and the South Sound region continue to grow, History graduates are finding more opportunities in the fields of education, records management, museum curation, government service, heritage tourism, journalism, and other professions. History also provides an excellent foundation for graduate study in law, education, and many other areas. Visit the American Association for State and Local History and USAJobs.gov to find more opportunities.
The American Historical Association also has resources for students curious about career opportunities in the field of History. Their database has useful information on where history majors work.
History Internships
History students can benefit from internships at Fort Nisqually, the Washington State Historical Society, or the Job Carr Museum. Visit our Internships page to learn more about how to sign up for internships.
Student Learning Outcomes
As a student in the History major, you will learn:
- oral and written communication
- diverse areas of history and the relevant historical facts and context
- historiographic and interpretive differences, especially regarding causation
- use of primary and secondary source evidence
- how to work independently and in groups
As a student of History, you will study the past and learn to research and write your own histories. You will learn cause and effect reasoning and gain skills essential in all fields of research and all of the professions.
Note: History majors may not earn the History minor.
History majors learn how to gather information from primary and secondary sources, cull and analyze that information, identifying its most significant aspects, reach conclusions, and produce well-written narratives and oral presentations relating the contents and results of their work.
History explores the past so we can better understand the present. Students will learn how to analyze primary and secondary sources to identify significant themes and trends, reach conclusions, and produce effective written and oral materials related to a particular subject(s). There are four thematic options within the Bachelor of Arts in History: Arts, Culture, and Society; Global History; Labor and Social Movements; Power, Gender, and Identity. Alternatively, students can pursue the general History option and take an additional 30 credits of THIST prefixed courses (25 of which must be upper division).
History Honors
Students majoring in History also have the option of graduating with honors. This route is especially recommended for students expecting to enter graduate school. To learn more, talk to your academic advisor.
Phi Alpha Theta (PAT)
UW Tacoma is the home of the Alpha Zeta Gamma chapter of Phi Alpha Theta (PAT), the National History Honor Society. Phi Alpha Theta national requirements state that students must have completed 18 quarter hours (12 semester hours) of college-level history courses (including those taken at other institutions) in which they earned a GPA of 3.1 or better, and carry a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0.
The Phi Alpha Theta honor society induction ceremony is held Spring Quarter at UW Tacoma. Members wear crimson stoles with their academic regalia at commencement. All UW Tacoma students are welcome at PAT meetings and service projects. For more information, contact your academic advisor or the Phi Alpha Theta faculty advisor, William Burghart.
History Degree Requirements (Effective Autumn 2019)
The Bachelor of Arts in History requires 60 credits. These will include the required Core Courses (30 credits). The choice of remaining elective History coursework (30 credits) is entirely at the student’s discretion. This coursework varies, however, depending on whether you have chosen to declare the general History major or one of the History thematic options. If you do the general History major, the remaining 30 credits of coursework must have a THIST prefix, and 25 of those credits must be upper division. If you choose one of the thematic options, you must choose 30 elective credits from the approved course lists.
For questions about the History major, contact an academic advisor, or History major coordinator Associate Teaching Professor William Burghart.
Required 30 credits (each course 5 credits unless otherwise noted)
- THIST 150 World History I
- THIST 151 World History II
- THIST 200 American History I, 1607-1877
- THIST 201 American History II, 1877-present
To be taken after consultation with an advisor:
- THIST 380 Humanities Research and Writing (taken in junior year - recommended prerequisite: THIST 101)
- THIST 498 History Capstone (taken in your last 1-2 quarters - including senior paper and THIST portfolio Prereq: THIST 380 with a minimum 2.0 grade) 2.0 grade minimum required.
The General option is designed to offer students a survey of history and build upon the core requirements.
The General Option requires 30 credits with a THIST prefix. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses. For THIST options, please see the complete list of course offerings.
The Arts, Culture, and Society option is designed to offer students a strong foundation for understanding the interconnection between cultural production and historical causation where ideas, art, architecture, literature, film and the performing arts function as agents of social and historical change.This option is interdisciplinary and examines the intersection and interaction between politics, science, economics, social ritual and development, class, gender, and race across a global environment over time.
The Arts, Culture, and Society Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.
- TARTS 335 History of Photography
- TARTS 360 Women Artists from the Renaissance to the Present VLPA
- TARTS 480 Contemporary Art and Society since 1945
- TEGL 271 American Indians in Film
- TEGL 419 African-American Culture and Consciousness
- THIST 111 Ancient World
- THIST 112 Intro to Medieval World
- THIST 231 The Ancient Mediterranean World
- THIST 280 German Cultural History
- THIST 290 A World History of Food
- THIST 336 Black, Labor, and Protest Music in Historical Perspective
- THIST 376 Global Diasporas, Borders, and Refugees in Visual Culture
- THIST 377 Art of the Americas
- THIST 479 Modern European Culture
- THIST 486 Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society
- THIST 487 Technology in the Modern World
- THIST 491 Advanced Topics in the Ancient and Medieval Mediterrannean World
- TLAX 400 Afro-Hispanic Culture
- TLAX 441 Mexican Cinema and Society
- TLAX 465 Latin American Visual Arts
- TLIT 371 The World Stage through the Present
- TLIT 481 Postcolonial Fiction
The Global History option is designed to offer students a strong foundation for understanding the relational forces between continents, and the historical process of globalization. Colonialism, imperialism, anticolonial independence movements, and the national and transnational effects they cause are additional areas of study. This option is interdisciplinary and prepares students for investigating issues of globalization, such as the impact of colonization and aggressive imperial expansion on dominated territories and their history.
The Global History Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.
- TEGL 303 Introduction to American Indian Education
- TEGL 340 Intersections: Race, Gender and Sexuality in a Global Perspective
- THIST 111 The Ancient World
- THIST 112 The Medieval World
- THIST 203 Modern Europe in Global History
- THIST 220 African American History 1619-1865
- THIST 231 The Ancient Mediterranean World
- THIST 251 The Global Twentieth Century
- THIST 260 Empires and Imperialism in World History
- THIST 270 Premodern East Asian
- THIST 271 Modern East Asia
- THIST 290 A World History of Food
- THIST 343 Vietnam and the 1960s
- THIST 350 Modern Germany Since 1848
- THIST 365 Europe in the Twentieth Century
- THIST 375 British Empire
- THIST 376 Global Diasporas, Borders, and Refugees in Visual Culture
- THIST 377 Art of the Americas
- THIST 444 The Pacific Northwest
- THIST 451 Renaissance Europe
- THIST 462 History of Vietnam
- THIST 464 Modern China
- THIST 465 Modern Japan
- THIST 466 Modern Korea
- THIST 474 Imperial China
- THIST 475 Twentieth-Century Britain
- THIST 478 Europe in the Nineteenth Century
- THIST 480 Eastern Europe in Transition, 1940-2000
- THIST 484 The Pacific War
- THIST 486 Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society
- THIST 487 Technology in the Modern World
- THIST 491 Advanced Topics in the Ancient and Medieval World
- THIST 495 The Metropolis
- T POLS 329 Making of Modern Africa
- T POLS 360 Genocide
The Labor and Social Movements option is designed to offer students a strong foundation for understanding historical roots and processes that shape political, intellectual, economic and social developments and consequently the conditions of the working class in a global context. This option is interdisciplinary and examines the culture, politics, and socioeconomic conditions as they intersect with gender, labor, and race in changing contexts of im(migration), famine, disenfranchiesement, marginalization, oppression, and political disempowerment. Consequently, this option explores and analyzies social movements responding to these conditions such as socialism, protest, community organization, unionism, and revolution.
The Labor and Social Movements Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.
- TEGL 305 American Indian Movement
- THIST 315 Industrialization and Reform
- THIST 322 American Labor Since the Civil War
- THIST 336 Black, Labor, and Protest Music in Historical Perspective
- THIST 343 Vietnam and the 1960s
- THIST 350 Modern Germany Since 1848
- THIST 365 Europe in the 20th Century
- THIST 376 Global Diasporas, Borders, and Refugees in Visual Culture
- THIST 413 Civil Rights, Civil Liberties (5, max. 10)
- THIST 416 Life and Thought: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis
- THIST 417 United States History 1945-Present
- THIST 440 Black Labor in America
- THIST 441 Black Freedom Movement in Perspective
- THIST 475 Twentieth-Century Britain
- THIST 478 Europe in the Nineteenth Century
- T POLS 343 Community and Labor Organizing: A Multiculturual
The Power, Gender, and Identity option offers a strong foundation for understanding the historical roots of intersections between race, gender, ethnicity, class, and socioeconomics that have created and continue to transform hierarchical structures of power. This option is interdisciplinary and examines the origins of social stratification with regard to race, gender, ethnicity, and class. In consultation with primary sources drawn from divergent cultural, social and natural science documents, this option explores the historical context of marginalization, disenfranchisement, political and economic inequality and disempowerment.
The Power, Gender, and Identity Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.
- TEGL 303 Introduction to American Indian Education
- TEGL 305 American Indian Movement
- TEGL 340 Intersections: Race, Gender and Sexuality in a Global Perspective
- TEGL 380 Gender and Sexuality Across Cultural and Historical Contexts
- TEGL 419 African-American Culture and Consciousness
- THIST 220 African American History 1619-1865
- THIST 221 African-American History 1865-1945
- THIST 222 African-American History 1945-Present
- THIST 260 Empires and Imperialism
- THIST 320 Asian-American History
- THIST 336 Black, Labor, and Protest Music in Historical Perspective
- THIST 341 African-American History
- THIST 349 Minorities and Higher Education in American History
- THIST 350 Modern Germany Since 1848
- THIST 375 British Empire
- THIST 376 Global Diasporas, Borders, and Refugees in Visual Culture
- THIST 377 Art of the Americas
- THIST 416 Life and Thought: Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Angela Davis
- THIST 420 African-American Religious History
- THIST 437 Doing Community History
- THIST 440 Black Labor in America
- THIST 441 Black Freedom Movement in Perspective
- THIST 442 History of African American Education
- THIST 457 Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
- THIST 475 Twentieth-Century Britain
- THIST 487 Technology in the Modern World
- TLAX 238 Latinos in the United States
- TLIT 230 Multi-Ethnic American Literature
- TLIT 433 Native American Literature and Federal Indian Law
- TPOLS 317 The Politics of Race and Ethnicity in the United States
- TPOLS 360 Genocide
- TSOC 265 Race and Ethnicity in the United States
- TSOC 270 Introduction to Asian America: Sociological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives
- TWOMN 347 History of Women in the United States