CAL Department of History
Virtual Visit Request info Apply
MENUMENU
  • People
    • Faculty & Staff directory
  • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Bachelor of Science in History
    • Bachelor of Arts in History
    • Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education
    • Accelerated MA Program
    • Minor in History
  • Graduate Degrees
    • Accelerated MA Program
    • Master of Arts in History
    • Emphasis in Public History
  • Student Resources
    • Scholarships
    • History Club
    • Forms & Information
  • News
  • NAU
  • CAL
  • History
  • History – BS
The BS degree allows students to develop a meaningful relationship between their study of history and that of another discipline, by requiring a minor field of study.

For more information, please contact our Undergraduate Adviser


Apply to NAU



History, Bachelor of Science

“Human history is the sad result of each one looking out for himself,” said writer Julio Florencio Cortázar. This bachelor's degree provides students with perspectives from which to agree or disagree with this observation. The program offers flexibility for students to customize their program of study based on the period or type of history in which they are interested.

  • Degree Info Tab Open

  • Faculty Tab Closed

  • Requirements Tab Open

  • Overview Tab Closed

  • Details Tab Closed

  • Availability Tab Closed

Requirements Accordion Open

  • To receive a bachelor's degree at Northern Arizona University, you must complete at least 120 units of credit that minimally includes a major, the liberal studies requirements, and university requirements as listed below.

    • All of Northern Arizona University's liberal studies, diversity, junior-level writing, and capstone requirements.
    • All requirements for your specific academic plan(s).
    • At least 30 units of upper-division courses, which may include transfer work.
    • At least 30 units of coursework taken through Northern Arizona University, of which at least 18 must be upper-division courses (300-level or above). This requirement is not met by credit-by-exam, retro-credits, transfer coursework, etc.
    • A cumulative grade point average of at least 2.0 on all work attempted at Northern Arizona University.
    The full policy can be viewed here.

     

Overview Accordion Closed

In addition to University Requirements:

  • At least 39 units of major requirements
  • At least 18 units of minor requirements
  • Up to 9 units of major prefix courses may be used to satisfy Liberal Studies requirements; these same courses may also be used to satisfy major requirements.
  • Elective courses, if needed, to reach an overall total of at least 120 units.

Please note that students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

Minimum Units for Completion120
Major GPA2.5
Highest Mathematics RequiredMAT 114
Study AbroadRecommended
University Honors ProgramOptional
AZ Transfer Students complete AGEC-ARecommended
Progression Plan LinkNot Available

Purpose Statement

A Bachelor of Science in History provides students with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to succeed in civic life, in graduate study, and in a variety of careers.  Our program emphasizes the complex tensions and synergies between human agency and larger historical forces in order to inform honest debate on past and current events as members of engaged, critical, and dynamic communities.  Historical perspective is an essential component of responsible and informed citizenship and provides significant advantages to students in a multicultural world and workplace. Our graduates attain the writing skills, research methods, and critical and analytical thinking necessary not only for history professions, but for a wide variety of career paths, such as management, law, and education in both academic and public settings.
 
Our curriculum trains students to find, evaluate, and employ primary and secondary sources as evidence to frame and answer questions through analysis, interpretation, and critical engagement. Students therefore learn to reach sound judgments and construct persuasive arguments through research rather than by relying on hearsay or presumptions. Students further develop appreciation for the diversity of the human experience and consciousness of how local and global histories inform one another in both past and present, and how historical research can transform those relations. In addition, students gain expertise in another discipline to complement the practice of historical inquiry with an interdisciplinary approach.


Student Learning Outcomes

Historians portray the past with all its complexity, illuminating the tensions and synergies between human agency and larger historical and environmental forces in order to inform honest debate on past and current events by engaged, critical, and dynamic communities.

The Tools of a Historian’s Discipline

  • Doing History – finding, evaluating, and using primary and secondary sources.  BA/BS in History Candidates will:
    • Interpret and extract meaning from a variety of primary sources;
    • Gain knowledge literacy and research skills to locate, uncover, evaluate, and use evidence for the purpose of the historian;
    • Recognize the underlying assumptions, methodologies, and theories in other historians’ work in order to critique and build on this work with their own research;
    • Historicize assumptions of factual authenticity or universal truth by showing them to be historical, social and cultural constructs;
    • Apply theory and evaluate scholarship to frame historical questions;
    • Recognize how historians position themselves in the historiographies related to their topic.
  • Producing History–communicating historical analyses, interpretations, and narratives.  BA/BS in History Candidates will:
    • Articulate historical findings and interpretations through writing and oral expression;
    • Contextualize those findings using additional sources and evidence from the time period;
    • Produce and/or deconstruct historical narratives organized around patterns and themes of causality, chronologies, and paradigms identified by professional historians;
    • Position their research in pertinent historiographies;
    • Address conflicting evidence, alternative perspectives, and multiple viewpoints;
    • Comply with the professional conventions of the historical discipline by using and citing primary source evidence and the work of other scholars;
    • Acknowledge subjective and societal concerns that inform their own descriptions and evaluations of the past.
  • Local/Global Connections - BA/BS in History Candidates will
    • Develop historical consciousness of how local and global histories inform one another;
    • Recognize the diversity of human experience as seen in the interconnections and relationships among individuals, communities, social groups, cultures, nations, humans and environments;
    • Explore the connections between power and knowledge in order to understand how scholarship can transform those relations;
    • Use local histories to challenge “universals” even as global narratives challenge parochialisms.
  • Interdisciplinary –the minor (BS) - BS in History Candidates will
    • Gain expertise in one or more other disciplines in order to complement the practice of historical inquiry with an interdisciplinary approach.

 

Details Accordion Closed

Major Requirements
  • This major requires 57-63 to units distributed as follows:

    • History – Introductory Surveys: 12 units
    • Remaining History Course Selections: 27 units
    • A Minor: 18-24 units


    Take the following 39 units with a grade of "C" or better in each course. These courses must be completed with a minimum GPA of 2.5.

    HIS 300W, HIS 498C and at least 18 additional units must be taken at NAU including at least 6 units at the 300-level and at least 6 units at the 400-level.

    History - Introductory Surveys (12 units)

    • Set One (6 units)
      • Select from:
        • HIS 100*, HIS 102*, HIS 238, HIS 240, HIS 241, HIS 270, HIS 272, HIS 291, HIS 292, HIS 293, HIS 295
    • Set Two (6 units)

      • Select from:
        • HIS 100*, HIS 102*, HIS 221, HIS 229, HIS 230, HIS 231, HIS 249, HIS 250, HIS 251, HIS 280, HIS 281
      * Please note that you may take HIS 100 and HIS 102 to fulfill either the Set One or the Set Two History Introductory survey requirement in this major, but you can't use this set of courses to fulfill both requirements.

       

    • Select one course from:
      • HIS 312, HIS 314, HIS 320, HIS 325, HIS 355, HIS 379, HIS 380, HIS 381, HIS 382 (3 units)
    • Additional 300-level HIS courses (9 units)
    • Additional 400-level HIS courses, excluding HIS 407, HIS 429, HIS 430 and HIS 466  (9 units)
    • No more than three units of individualized study coursework, (HIS 408, HIS 485, HIS 497), may be used.
    • No more than six units of 300-level, and no more than three units of 400-level study abroad coursework may be used.
    • HIS 300W which meets the junior-level writing requirement. (3 units)
    • HIS 498C which meets the senior capstone requirement. (3 units)
Minor Requirements
  • You must complete a minor of at least 18 units from those described in this catalog. In consultation with your advisor, you should select a minor that's appropriate for your career aspirations and educational needs. Your minor advisor will advise you about this part of your academic plan.
  • We encourage you to consider the interdisciplinary minors described in this catalog, particularly Asian Studies, Ethnic Studies, Latin American Studies, Native American Studies, Women's and Gender Studies.

General Electives
  • Additional coursework is required, if, after you have met the previously described requirements, you have not yet completed a total of 120 units of credit. 

    You may take these remaining courses from any academic areas, using these courses to pursue your specific interests and goals. We encourage you to consult with your advisor to select the courses that will be most advantageous to you. (Please note that you may also use prerequisites or transfer credits as electives if they weren't used to meet major, minor, or liberal studies requirements.)

Additional Information
  • If you meet the following criteria, you become eligible to receive History Departmental Honors when you graduate.

    To obtain Departmental Honors, you must:

    • have an overall grade point average of 3.5 or better;
    • have an overall grade point average for all History courses taken of 3.7 or better;
    • complete a minimum of 39 units of History courses;
    • complete a senior thesis or an Honors project under the supervision of a history faculty member; and
    • present the results of the thesis or Honors project at the University Honors Program Symposium, or at a History Department symposium or at a regional/national scholarly conference.
  • The History Department strongly encourages you to study abroad or intern abroad.  For more information on global learning opportunities, benefits, or requirements, please consult the History Department website and your advisor. 

  • Be aware that some courses may have prerequisites that you must also take. For prerequisite information, click on the course or see your advisor.

Availability Accordion Closed

  • Flagstaff

directory photo
Michael A Amundson
Professor
Department of History
Michael.Amundson@nau.edu
+1 928 523-6331
Liberal Arts , room 315
directory photo
Christopher R Boyer
Dean, College of Arts and Letters; Professor of History
College of Arts and Letters
Chris.Boyer@nau.edu
+1 928 523-7798
Riles , room 209
directory photo
Christi Carlson
Associate Teaching Professor
Department of History
Christi.Carlson@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8153
Liberal Arts , room 209E
directory photo
Leilah Claire Danielson
Chair, History; Professor, History
Department of History
Leilah.Danielson@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8425
Liberal Arts , room 205
directory photo
Paul V Dutton
Professor
Department of History
Paul.Dutton@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8830
directory photo
Sanjay Joshi
Professor
Department of History
Sanjay.Joshi@nau.edu
+1 928 523-6216
Liberal Arts , room 206
directory photo
Jeremy LaBuff
Associate Chair, History; Assistant Professor, History
Department of History
Jeremy.LaBuff@nau.edu
+1 928 523-4518
Liberal Arts , room 209D
directory photo
Eric Vaughn Meeks
Professor
Department of History
Eric.Meeks@nau.edu
+1 928 523-8428
Liberal Arts , room 316
directory photo
Elizabeth B Schwall
Assistant Professor
Department of History
Elizabeth.Schwall@nau.edu
+1 928 523-6217
Liberal Arts , room 313
Department of History
Location
Room 213 Building 018
Liberal Arts
705 S Beaver St
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011
Mailing Address
P. O. Box 6023
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011
Email
history@nau.edu
Phone
928-523-4378
Fax
928-523-1277
Social Media
Visit us on Twitter