History Course Descriptions
HIST 113 | American History Before 1865 (3 credit hours)
This course provides a study of America from the European exploration of the New World
to the end of the Civil War.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 114 | American History After 1865 (3 credit hours)
This course provides a study of the United States from Reconstruction to the present.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 201 | World Civilization Before 1500 (3 credit hours)
This course is a survey of the beginnings of civilizations in the great river valleys
and their diffusion to later civilizations in the Middle East and Europe. Particular
attention will be given to the cultural and political institutions of the West that
furnish our own cultural heritage.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 202 | World Civilization After 1500 (3 credit hours)
In this course the rise and decline of European predominance will be analyzed with
emphasis upon the major social, political, and economic ideologies and institutions
that evolved.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 225 | Introduction to Historical Methods (3 credit hours)
This course is designed to teach history majors how to conduct historical research,
develop professional writing skills, and understand the philosophy of history. Each
student will develop a research question for the semester. They will then research
their topic, its historiography, and write an 8-12 page paper. This course will teach
students the necessary skills to be successful in their upper-level history courses
and the seminar in history.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 301 | Colonial America (3 credit hours)
This course is a study of colonial rivalry between the Spanish, French, English, and
Dutch in North America; the Revolution; and U.S. History to 1800.
Prerequisite Required: HIST 113
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 302 | Nineteenth Century U.S.
This course is a survey of Nineteenth Century America with a focus on the Jeffersonian,
Jacksonian, Civil War, and Reconstruction Eras.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 303 | U.S. in the Twentieth Century (3 credit hours)
This course is a study of the U.S. in modern times with an emphasis upon the changing
social and economic theories of the period and the internal forces that influenced
their development.
Prerequisite Required: HIST 114
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 304 | African American History (3 credit hours)
This course provides a survey of African American life and culture in America from
1619 to the present.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 307 | Women in American History and Politics (3 credit hours)
This course is an introductory survey of American women's history from pre-contact
to the present with an emphasis on women's roles in the nation's political and civic
life.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 308 | Native American History and Culture (3 credit hours)
This course is a broad introductory survey of the cultures and historical experiences
of North American peoples from pre-contact to the present in ethno-historical perspective.
Course content reflects the diverse nature of indigenous experience across a spectrum
of culture groups that comprise the Native peoples of North America. Instruction focuses
on how the indigenous peoples of North America responded to the ever-shifting societal
stresses that accompanied rapid and often violent social, cultural, and environmental
transformations of the last four centuries and how they adapted and changed to meet
the challenges they confronted as they persisted in their efforts to preserve their
homelands, their cultures, their sovereignty, and their right to self-determination.
Cross listed as ANTH 308.
General Studies Outcome: Community, Regional and Global Studies, Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc
Science
HIST 322 | Introduction to Public History (3 credit hours)
This course provides an introduction to the theory and practice of public history.
The course will orient the student to a range of fields in which public history is
practiced and provide students the opportunity to engage in the practice of public
history using traditional disciplinary skill sets as well as a variety of new, broadly
applicable digital history platforms
Prerequisite Required: HIST 113/114 or permission of instructor
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 324 | Introduction to Museum and Archival Practice (3 credit hours)
This course provides and introduction to museum and archival practices. Students will
be introduced to the history of museums and the field of museum studies. Topics covered
include museum theory and best practices; development, care, and use of museums, collections;
collection organization and preservation; museum education and outreach; museum administration,
funding, and exhibition development.
Prerequisite Required: HIST 113/114 or permission of instructor
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 325 | American Political Thought (3 credit hours)
This course describes the major fields and periods of American political thought,
its major works, and the scholarly interpretations of those works.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 329 | History of Nebraska (3 credit hours)
This course is a survey of the political, economic, social, and constitutional development
of Nebraska from prehistoric times to the present.
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 341 | Modern Europe (3 credit hours)
This course offers a comparative historical analysis of the ongoing process of modernization
in Europe. The emphasis is on movements and institutions such as Liberalism, Conservatism,
Romanticism, Socialism, Imperialism, and Totalitarianism from 1815 to the present.
Cross listed as PSCI 341.
Prerequisite Required: HIST 202
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 351 | Modern Africa (3 credit hours)
Modern Africa presents the history of sub-Saharan Africa, concentrating on the events
of the last three centuries and providing comparisons with European and American history.
Cross listed as PSCI 351.
General Studies Outcome: Community, Regional & Global Studies, Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc
Science
HIST 367 | Modern East Asia (3 credit hours)
Course examines modern East Asian history from 1800 to the present. The major emphasis
is on the histories of China and Japan. The history of these countries is deeply intertwined
politically and culturally, but each country's fate in the 19th and 20th century was
unique to its internal and external circumstances. This course traces the political
histories of each country, the issues of their social structures, their intellectual
and philosophical thoughts and beliefs, and their internal efforts to modernize themselves.
The road to modernity for each state was paved with different goals and challenges,
and yet the region continues to have a major impact on the world today.
General Studies Outcome: Community, Regional & Global Studies, Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc
Science
HIST 371 | Modern Middle East (3 credit hours)
This course examines the recent history of the Middle East region, focusing on the
Arab-Israeli conflict, the growth of fundamentalism and terrorism, and the international
conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Cross listed as PSCI 371.
General Studies Outcome: Community, Regional & Global Studies, Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc
Science
HIST 390 | Modern Germany (3 credit hours)
This course surveys the history of the modern German nation-state, including the rise
and fall of the Hitler dictatorship and the integration of Germany into a democratic
Europe. Topics include the absolutism of the old regime, the Enlightenment and the
Napoleonic occupation, the 1848 revolution, unification and rule under Bismarck, imperialism
under Wilhelm II, the First World War, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi dictatorship,
the Second World War and the Holocaust, the divided Germanys, and the Federal Republic
since 1989.
General Studies Outcome: Community, Regional & Global Studies, Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc
Science
HIST 411 | U.S. West and Borderlands (3 credit hours)
This course is a thematic survey of the history and major debates that have framed
Americans changing conceptions of the American West and its borderlands from the colonial
period to the present.
Prerequisite Required: HIST 113
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 425 | Seminar in American History (3 credit hours)
This is the capstone and senior competency course for History and Social Science majors.
In this seminar, students will engage current historiographical debates and produce
a substantial piece of original historical research using primary and archival sources.
Seminar topics will vary.
Prerequisite Required: Seniors Only
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science
HIST 426 | American Constitutional Law (3 credit hours)
This course is a study of the historical and political context of constitutional doctrine
through major decisions. The emphasis is on constitutional growth as it relates to
the fundamental structure of American government and the social order. Cross listed
as PSCI 426.
Prerequisite Required: PSCI 201
General Studies Outcome: Methods of Inq & Explanatory Schema - Soc Science