History Degrees Online

St. Olaf’s history offerings are structured to help students achieve different learning goals at different levels. In Level I seminars, students approach history as a way of learning, through the critical reading of primary sources on specific historical topics. In Level I foundational surveys, they explore the broad historical development of the world’s major societies and cultures. In most Level II courses, students examine more specialized national, area, and topical developments. In Level II major seminars, students develop their skills of analysis, interpretation, argumentation, and expression. Finally, Level III seminars challenge students to recognize historical problems and to formulate their own questions about major historical issues, entering the ongoing debates of historians.

History courses at Level I do not have prerequisites. Level I seminars are only open to first-year students; Level I foundational surveys are open to everybody. History courses at Level II generally do not have prerequisites either, since many of them count for general education credit. The major seminars at Level II are especially designed for history majors, although other students may enroll as space permits. Level III courses generally require significant prior preparation; students with little or no background in a particular area or period should consult with the instructor before registration.

The discipline of history is at the core of a liberal arts education, illuminating the ideas, institutions, and sentiments by which people have attempted to order their world. The St. Mary’s College History Department exposes students to the richness and diversity of human history over time and in different geographic regions. In the course of their studies, students will develop a deeper understanding of themselves, their culture, and humanity in general. To broaden their knowledge, students are expected to take a range of courses in American, European, Asian, African, Latin American, and ancient history. In addition, our classes span the centuries, from the earliest history to the modern day and are based on diverse methodologies, including political, social, intellectual, and cultural history. Students also enjoy opportunities to gain hands-on experience in colonial history, archeology, and museum studies at Historic St. Mary’s City, which is affiliated with the College. The practice of history relies heavily on critical reading and many forms of analytical and narrative writing. Carrying out historical research and reporting their discoveries both in written form and orally, students develop their ability to listen and think critically and to communicate effectively. Students will also learn to think historically and to appreciate the contested nature, limits, and possibilities of historical knowledge as they explore the ways in which historians have interpreted the past. The study of history at St. Mary’s College thus lays a sound foundation for the future pursuit of a wide range of careers, including law, public policy, foreign service, library science, public history, academia, journalism, and international business.

The study of history is a crucial aspect of a liberal education. History provides a sense of perspective on the processes of social, political, and economic change that literally have shaped the world. The study of history deepens and broadens one’s understanding of the ways institutions and attitudes bring about change over time.
Lyon history students experience the varied work of the modern historian, especially the historian as detective and as interpreter. Working with both evidence and ideas, int he classroom and in the field, history majors have the opportunity to refine their skills in critical reading, reasoning, research, and writing.

The study of history is a crucial aspect of a liberal education. History provides a sense of perspective on the processes of social, political, and economic change that literally have shaped the world. The study of history deepens and broadens one’s understanding of the ways institutions and attitudes bring about change over time.
Lyon history students experience the varied work of the modern historian, especially the historian as detective and as interpreter. Working with both evidence and ideas, int he classroom and in the field, history majors have the opportunity to refine their skills in critical reading, reasoning, research, and writing.

The Admissions Committee for the undergraduate programs of La Sierra University examines evidence of scholastic competence, moral and ethical standards, and significant qualities of character and personality of each applicant. Three factors are used in determining academic eligibility for admission. An applicant will academically qualify for regular admission as a first-time freshman if the applicant is a high school graduate, has a qualifiable eligibility index [calculated from grade point average for the specific high school courses and ACT or SAT score results] and has completed, with grades of “C” or better, the required subject requirements.

New Freshmen graduating from a United States High School

The following factors are considered in determining eligibility for admission:

High School Subject Requirements
New Freshmen applicants graduating from a high school in the United States must complete with grades of “C” or better a 15 unit pattern of courses during high school to fulfill the subject requirements in the “A-G” subject areas with an additional unit, up to 4 units “H” for each year of attendance at a Seventh-day Adventist high school. Each unit is equal to a year of study in a subject area. Early admission may be based on work completed through the junior year of high school and indication of courses to be taken during the senior year. Refer to the “A-G” & “H” Subject Requirements.
TEST SCORES

ACT or SAT Critical Reading/English and Math sections will be used for calculating admission eligibility.
ELIGIBILITY INDEX Table

An Eligibility Index table for new freshmen applicants uses the selective GPA [“A-G” high school subject requirements] and the total SAT 1 [Critical Reading + Math] or ACT Composite score to determine academic eligibility. Academic eligibility does not guarantee admission to the University. [Refer to the Eligibility Index Table].

COMMUNITY STANDARDS FORM

Please complete this form and return it to the Admissions Office. FOR PAPER APPLICATIONS ONLY
Community standards form (PDF file help)

PERSONAL STATEMENT

Applicants must submit a personal statement of no less than 250 words describing their achievements, academic goals, and why they have chosen La Sierra University for their studies

Critical Reading - Students will learn strategies in the following areas: evaluation, analysis, identification of patterns, breaking down arguments into elemental parts, and reflecting on potential responses. These strategies will facilitate the questioning of assumptions, exploring of perspectives, and acknowledgment of complexity. Students will explore different ways of understanding and through this process formulate political and social identities.
Critical Thinking - Students will learn to engage with new ideas and explore complex, real-world problems. Skills cultivated will include the ability to conceptualize information, integrate outside opinions, draw inferences, synthesize positions, and generate tenable solutions.
Critical Writing - Students will show the ability to critically analyze primary and secondary sources and demonstrate this ability by writing scholarly arguments, summaries, bibliographic reviews, and research papers. Writings will show consideration of point of view, bias, and perspective in the things we read. Students will also show knowledge of scholarly documentation style used within the profession and understand, and that proper documentation is essential and does not plagiarize the writing or ideas of others.
Oral Presentation Skills - Students will transmit their own critical work verbally with clarity, accuracy, and conviction. The thesis statement, surrounded by the arguments and evidence that develop it, is the focal point of the oral presentation. The presentation itself should: be clearly outlined and follow a logical progression; provide necessary context for understanding the topic at hand; provide thoughtful conclusion linked to the thesis of the paper; stay within assigned time limits; and, be free from distracting gestures and vocalized pauses.
Engagement with Diversity - Students will become familiar with and sensitive to issues of diversity through the study of historical events, political debates, and sociological models that illustrate how and why issues of race, ethnicity, class, and gender have divided and united people. Students will evidence respect for and appreciation of all humans, regardless of color, creed, culture, socio-economic status, and country of origin.
Disciplinary Proficiency - Throughout their history coursework at La Sierra University, students will develop disciplinary proficiency and will show culmination of all history learning objectives in their writing and through the oral presentation of their senior thesis project. In the required thesis project (20-25 pages in length), students will apply the skills they have acquired in previous courses and assignments to a research project of their choice. Students will show that they can make logical and well-reasoned arguments with contextual knowledge of historical issues and professional standards, acknowledge other perspectives, evaluate evidence, write with clarity, document with accuracy, and demonstrate that they can use sources ethically.
Research Methodology - History students will show their grasp of historical research methodologies by writing a research paper documented in the Turabian format. This research will consist of either original research or a historiographical study. In the research paper, attention will be given to consulting a range of sources, both primary and secondary, and accounting for bias and strengths and weaknesses of sources. In the historiographical paper, attention will be given to identifying the scholarly conversation that surrounds a particular topic. In both types of papers, making a strong argument, conveyed with clarity and accuracy, and supported by historical evidence is essential. Students must provide proper documentation for their sources and never plagiarize the writing or ideas of others.
Religious/Moral/Ethical Values - Students will develop an awareness of and engagement with the important religious, moral, and ethical issues of the past and those of contemporary concern, including but not limited to values promoted and debated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, American political, civic and religious society, and global issues that interact with or diverge from local, regional, and national debates. Students will cultivate their own personal system of religious, moral, and ethical values, utilizing the academic, social, and spiritual values learned from their university experience.
Extra-Curricular Civic Breadth - Students will be encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities that may not have specific academic objectives but which contribute to the student’s personal, spiritual, and professional growth. Such activities may include, but are not limited to the following endeavors: serving as a student missionary, NGO volunteer or similar involvement with a service-oriented organization having national or global outreach objectives; serving as a volunteer in a local civic or church-related organization designed to improve local communities and/or foster better community relations; participating in campus organizations, clubs, and outreach programs; and, participating in political campaigns, ballot initiatives, and related civic endeavors that advance democratic objectives.
External Academic Enrichment - Students will be encouraged to participate in extra-academic activities outside of their regular classroom experience, including but not limited to the following endeavors: attending university-provided lectures or film series; attending discipline-related conferences; presenting papers at outside conferences and similar forums; collaborating in join research efforts; participating in internship and externship opportunities; and, participating in on-campus and off-campus debate societies.

Sociology Learning Objectives:
Critical Reading - Students will learn strategies in the following areas: evaluation, analysis, identification of patterns, breaking down arguments into elemental parts, and reflecting on potential responses. These strategies will facilitate the questioning of assumptions, exploring of perspectives, and acknowledgment of complexity. Students will explore different ways of understanding and through this process formulate political and social identities.
Critical Thinking - Students will learn to engage with new ideas and explore complex, real-world problems. Skills cultivated will include the ability to conceptualize information, integrate outside opinions, draw inferences, synthesize positions, and generate tenable solutions.
Critical Writing - Students will show the ability to critically analyze primary and secondary sources and demonstrate this ability by writing scholarly evaluations, arguments, summaries, reviews, research papers, and bibliographies. Students will understand the basic elements of critical thinking: differentiating between fact and opinion, recognizing and evaluating author bias and rhetoric, determining cause-and-effect relationships, determining the accuracy and completeness of information presented, recognizing logical fallacies and faulty reasoning, comparing and contrasting information and points of view, developing inferential skills, and making judgments and drawing logical conclusions. Students will also demonstrate a knowledge of the scholarly, documentation style used within the profession. Students will understand that proper documentation is essential and refrain from plagiarizing the writing or ideas of others at all times.
Oral Presentation Skills - Students will transmit their own critical work verbally with clarity, accuracy, and conviction. Oral presentations should provide necessary context for understanding the topic at hand and should be clearly outlined and follow a logical progression with an introduction, a body of content, and a conclusion in a summary form linked to a thesis of the paper. The thesis statement or the hypothesis, surrounded by the arguments and evidence that developed it, is the focal point of the oral presentation. The presentation is NOT read verbatim, except in the case of quotations.
Engagement with Diversity - In the profound words of poet Maya Angelou, we must believe in the “awesome wonder of diversity,” because in it “there is beauty and there is strength.” “Diversity makes for a rich tapestry [where] all the threads are equal in value no matter their color; equal in importance no matter their texture,” that “beneath the skin, beyond the differing features and into the true heart of being, fundamentally, we are alike.”

Students will evidence respect for and appreciation of all humans regardless of color, creed, culture, socio-economic status, and country of origin. Students will be encouraged and expected to celebrate diversity. This campus is a living laboratory of diversity being “the most diverse student body west of the Mississippi.” The student’s interaction with “the other” on campus will be monitored, evaluated, and recorded.
Subject Matter Proficiency Before graduation, during the last academic quarter attended, majors will submit to two processes to measure and judge their subject matter proficiency in Sociology: a written paper that answers questions prepared by their Sociology advisor on the basic tenants of sociology, e.g. the implication of understanding and internalizing the concept of “the sociological imagination,” the main theories of the discipline, the various methodologies sociologists use in research, society’s major institutions, inequities in modern society, and the meaning and impact of globalization; and, an interview with their advisor and another sociology faculty member, where students are engaged in demonstrating subject matter proficiency in an atmosphere of collegiality and mutual respect. At this conference, the faculty members will discuss with the student their written paper as well as review his/her portfolio collected over the course of the student’s enrollment in the program here at La Sierra University and other materials he/she may present from his/her experience in other institutions of higher learning before coming to LSU.
Research Methodology - Sociology students will show their grasp of the scientific principle and the scientific method of inquiry by writing a research paper documented in the style used within the profession. This research will consist of either qualitative or quantitative original research. In the research paper, attention will be given to consulting a range of sources, both primary and secondary, and accounting for bias, strengths, and weaknesses of sources. Students shall have knowledge of statistical tools and statistical analysis, capable of using the appropriate statistical tool, and able to read and understand graphs, tables, and other abbreviated forms of data. Whether the paper is qualitative or quantitative, students shall generate a hypothesis or hypotheses, review the literature, create a research design, collect the data, analyze it, and write a report.
Religious/Moral/Ethical Values - La Sierra University is a faith-based institution of higher education. One of the paramount objectives of the university and the department is to instill in every student the urgent necessity of building a personal system of religious, moral, and ethical values. Developing a body of knowledge and learning how to translate it into a useful career must be based on a foundation of integrity.

Character does count in every transaction of life. This goal will be assessed in observing a student’s academic honesty, disciplinary excellence, and in each one of the “six pillars of character”: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship.
Extra-Curricular Civic Breadth - In recognition that higher education involves more than just academic learning, students will be encouraged to explore their civic engagement in the following areas: leadership in the campus student government association (SALSU); service in a student club, either departmental or university; singing in a choir or a chorus; playing in a musical ensemble; leading out in a university outreach program; engagement in student missions or other student services outside the university; holding office in a church; helping on recruitment trips; and, volunteering in civic organizations. These and similar extra-curricular activities serve to enrich the student in every aspect of his/her life. Therefore, the department will encourage and monitor such activities deemed as pursuits necessary for the life of a well-educated person. The department will also seek to instill in the student the importance of lifelong learning and lifelong service to the community.
External Academic Enrichment - It has been said that a university student learns more outside the classroom than inside. As part of student growth, these academic activities are, therefore, very important. Such activities might include: presenting papers at conventions; public speaking at service clubs; internships or externships; attending professional conventions; collaborative research with LSU and non-LSU personnel; and, going on cultural tours inside or outside of the United States. These activities and others similar will manifest a student’s breadth of education and will be encouraged and monitored by the department and its faculty.