Area of Study Guidelines: Historical Studies for Student Matriculated After March 17, 2008 Policy
Sponsor: |
Academic Affairs |
|---|---|
Contact: |
Vice Provost |
Category: |
Academic |
Number: |
100.118 |
Effective Date: |
1000/01/01 |
Implementation History: |
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Keywords: |
Area of study guidelines, Historical Studies |
Background Information: |
Purpose
To provide context for the area of study guidelines for area of study Historical Studies.
Definitions
Area of Study Guidelines: This set of guidelines helps students plan their degree plans by spelling out what the academic world and many employers understand a particular concentration to mean. The guidelines are found in many academic publications.
Disciplinary — A program of study guided by the existing framework of a discipline.
Interdisciplinary — The simultaneous and interrelated study of two or more disciplines.
Problem Oriented — A program of study organized around a problem.
Professional/Vocational — A study which focuses on acquiring knowledge and skills needed for specific career performance and applications. It also entails
inquiry into the conceptual foundations of the profession, the role of the professional in that career, and the relations between the profession and society at large.
Thematic — A program of study focusing on a particular theme or set of ideas.
Statements
Students interested in Historical Studies may choose from a wide range of possibilities. Concentrations may be organized by types of history (e.g., social, race/ethnicity/class/gender, political, religious, environmental, economic, diplomatic, quantitative), by national experience or geographical areas (e.g., American history, Western civilization, East Asian history, studies of regional history), by time periods (e.g., ancient history, medieval civilization, modern history, colonial/post-colonial), or by themes (ethnic studies, labor history), and in other ways. Students designing concentrations in Historical Studies should investigate graduate school opportunities and requirements. Students interested in concentrations in Historical Studies should visit the Historical Studies web site (www.esc.edu/historyarea).
Building on the studies used to meet the SUNY General Education Requirement, students may design a concentration in Historical Studies using any of the college’s five organizing frameworks:
- Disciplinary concentrations include work in Western civilization, national, regional or ethnic histories, African-American experience, work in historical methods and historiography, and appropriate supporting studies, such as economics, statistics, literature and/or science.
- Interdisciplinaryconcentrations in Historical Studies represent a conscious attempt to explore linkages among allied disciplines from a historical perspective (e.g., anthropology, economics, literature, and languages). Study in comparative history is also frequently interdisciplinary in approach.
- Thematic frameworks allow a student to trace and explore one or more themes in Historical Studies.
- Problem-oriented frameworks emphasize consideration of possible resolutions or continuing significance of the chosen problem.
- Professionalprograms include studies vital for developing career-related skills in areas such as archival or museum employment, historical preservation and restoration, scholarly editing, and the research and writing of official histories. Students with a professional emphasis frequently include internship experiences in their degree program plans.
The faculty of the college expects that students who design degree programs in Historical Studies will acquire the following enabling skills and understandings:
- an understanding of historical processes and events that have shaped social change and contemporary human problems;
- knowledge of the breadth of historical writing and interpretation (the conversation within the discipline) that pertains to the topics of study included in the degree program;
- an understanding of the linkage between historical studies and other disciplines;
- an understanding of human experiences that go beyond a single time period and national or cultural experience;
- an understanding of the diversity of sources that record and interpret the past, including writtentexts, and original documents, photographs, visual materials, oral histories, historical objectsand media and of how to identify and evaluate primary and secondary sources;
- research skills, including a basic understanding of how to use libraries and virtual libraries, archives, databases and other internet resources;
- knowledge of the forms of citation shared by professional historians, especially the conventions known as the Chicago/Turabian style; (see the Historical Studies web site)
- the ability to analyze and interpret historical resources and perspectivesand to make judgments, to explore causal relationships, to seek order and patterns, to ask why and how -- not just simply report;
- the ability to think critically and communicate effectively;
- an understanding of history as a creative art, a subjective discipline and an imaginative interpretation of the past.
Finally, students designing concentrations in Historical Studies are encouraged to include a capstone study or a final integrating independent study.
Applicable Legislation and Regulations
Related References, Policies, Procedures, Forms and Appendices
Introduction to the Area of Study Guidelines
Area of Study Guidelines; Historical Studies for Student Matriculating Before March 17, 2008 Policy