Our Program

Concordia's History Department offers a comprehensive history education for those choosing to major in History or Social Studies Education and complements a host of other majors for students seeking another major or minor. Additionally, History courses play a fundamental role in the university's Core Curriculum. History majors develop a breadth of knowledge across time and place by focusing on the United States, Europe, or the World. Students graduate with the ability to research, think critically, communicate effectively, and engage in meaningful ways in their communities. Studying history equips Concordians with the analytical skills required to excel in a variety of fields, including teaching, law, politics, business, research, and information management. History students, upon graduation, enter the workforce well-prepared to engage in an ever-changing society. History majors pursue graduate work in history, art history, museum studies, information studies, library science, and education. Equally importantly, Students discover that history can be so much more than facts and dates. They study engaging topics such as war, music, art and architecture, film, great texts, empires, and even pirates. Throughout the curriculum, students ponder larger questions related to the human experience, past, present & future: what are the fundamental characteristics of being human; what material, philosophical, and cultural changes have occurred over time; and what lies ahead for human society?

Our Vision

The study of history is a foundational part of a Lutheran Liberal Arts education. At Concordia, students graduate able to ask questions about the past, to identify what is common to the human experience, and to ask what has changed across cultures and over time. History majors learn how human groups have used stories to pass on wisdom and values, think carefully about how historians do their work, and practice using historical knowledge to contribute to our communities. History has been used for millennia by people to teach lessons, to discern virtue and vice, and to distinguish what is believed from what is true. The Concordia History program draws on all of these traditions to equip Concordians to pursue their vocations in the church and the world. 

Program Learning Outcomes

• Christian Scholarship: Students will compare and contrast cultures to a Christian worldview and explain how Christian scholars ask questions of the past.
• Historical breadth: Students will compare and contrast cultures across time and geographic space.
• Historical thinking: Students will narrate the past's major developments and significant themes and explain how historians use the past to inform the present.
• Historiography: Students will ask meaningful historical questions and identify and evaluate historical arguments in scholarship and in society.
• Communication: Students will communicate at a professional level in writing, presentations, digital media, and public forums.
• Historical Research: Students will identify and utilize relevant and reliable sources, evaluate evidence, and draw persuasive conclusions.

Curriculum

¹

For transfer students, please see the Advanced Transfer Core.

 Major Requirements

Select one of the following emphases:

¹

U.S. History Courses Include: 

• HIST 1000 Introduction to American Civilization
• HIST 1210 American Civilization I
• HIST 1215 American Civilization II
• HIST 2200 The Civil War
• HIST 2210 Women in America
• HIST 2220 The City & American Culture
• HIST 2240 The American Federal System
• HIST 2250 Topics in American History
• HIST 2675 America and Vietnam
• HIST 3200 Early America:1492-1800
• HIST 3210 American Republic: 1800-1860
• HIST 3220 Indus America:1865-1920
• HIST 3230 United States as a World Power: 1920-Present
• HIST 3240 America’s Game: Football and Society
• HIST 3250 Baseball in America
• HIST 3470 Contemporary Studies

²

European History Courses Include:

• HIST 1400 Historical Perspectives
• HIST 2420 European National History
• HIST 2450 Topics in Western History
• HIST 3400 Classical Greece and Rome
• HIST 3410 The Classical World
• HIST 3420 Medieval World: Kings, Knights, Damsels & Dragons
• HIST 3430 Renaissance and Reformation in Europe
• HIST 3440 Age of Enlightenment
•  HIST 3450 Revolutionary Europe
• HIST 3460 Modern Europe
• HIST 4400 History of Education in the Western Tradition
• HIST 4410 The Reformations

³

Non-Western/Global History Courses Include:

• HIST 1600 Non-Western World
• HIST 1610 World Civilizations I
• HIST 1615 World Civilizations II
• HIST 2600 History of Food
• HIST 2605 Monsters
• HIST 2610 Sports of the World
• HIST 2615 World of Superheroes
• HIST 2620 Ancient Civilizations
• HIST 2625 The Ancient World
• HIST 2630 Modern Africa
• HIST 2635 History & Culture of Latin America
• HIST 2640 Modern Japan
• HIST 2645 Modern Middle East
• HIST 2650 Empires: East & West
• HIST 2655 Asia on Fire
• HIST 2660 Byzantium
• HIST 2665 Imperial China
• HIST 2670 Modern China
• HIST 2675 America and Vietnam
• HIST 2680 Rats, Lice & Mice: History of Diseases & Epidemics
• HIST 2685 Faces of Culture
• HIST 2690 Skull and Crossbones: History and Culture of Pirates
• HIST 2750 Topics in Global History
• HIST 3600 Africa: History & Culture

Plan

Course options and schedule are subject to change.