Major in History Requirements at Kenyon College
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Requirements for the Major
History Majors at Kenyon must receive credit for at least 5 1/2 units of work in courses taught by the history department or in extra-departmental courses approved by the history department. (No more than 1 unit may be earned outside the department. For information on non-departmental courses that count for history credit, see the department chair.) The 5 1/2 required units must include: 2 units of work in a Field within the Major; the 1/2-unit course on the Practice and Theory of History (HIST 387/388 or Practice and Theory of History - Junior Honors HIST 397/398); and either the Senior Research Seminar or the Senior Honors Seminar.
While taking the courses that meet the requirements described in the preceding paragraph, History Majors must make sure to meet the following three Distribution Requirements: at least 1 unit in Asia and/or Africa; at least 1 unit in Europe and/or the Americas; at least 1 unit in pre-modern courses. The student majoring in History must also, while pursuing the program outlined above, complete at least one Advanced Seminar (i.e., any seminar except the Foundation Seminars, Practice and Theory of History Seminar, and the Senior Research Seminar.)
In addition to course requirements, Majors must also meet the collegiate requirement of passing the Senior Exercise, usually conducted in the spring semester. The History Senior Exercise consists of a forty-five minute oral examination that explores a newly-prepared and significantly revised version of the research paper completed in the Senior Seminar; preceded by a brief explanation of the chief ways it differs from your senior seminar essay. For details, contact the History Department in Seitz House.