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Note: History majors may not earn the History minor.

History majors learn how to gather information from primary and secondary sources, cull and analyze that information, identifying its most significant aspects, reach conclusions, and produce well-written narratives and oral presentations relating the contents and results of their work.

History explores the past so we can better understand the present. Students will learn how to analyze primary and secondary sources to identify significant themes and trends, reach conclusions, and produce effective written and oral materials related to a particular subject(s). There are four thematic options within the Bachelor of Arts in History: Arts, Culture, and Society; Global History; Labor and Social Movements; Power, Gender, and Identity. Alternatively, students can pursue the general History option and take an additional 30 credits of THIST prefixed courses (25 of which must be upper division). 

History Honors

Students majoring in History also have the option of graduating with honors. This route is especially recommended for students expecting to enter graduate school. To learn more, talk to your academic advisor.

Phi Alpha Theta (PAT)

UW Tacoma is the home of the Alpha Zeta Gamma chapter of Phi Alpha Theta (PAT), the National History Honor Society. Phi Alpha Theta national requirements state that students must have completed 18 quarter hours (12 semester hours) of college-level history courses (including those taken at other institutions) in which they earned a GPA of 3.1 or better, and carry a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.0.

The Phi Alpha Theta honor society induction ceremony is held Spring Quarter at UW Tacoma. Members wear crimson stoles with their academic regalia at commencement. All UW Tacoma students are welcome at PAT meetings and service projects. For more information, contact your academic advisor or the Phi Alpha Theta faculty advisor, William Burghart. 

History Degree Requirements (Effective Autumn 2019)

The Bachelor of Arts in History requires 60 credits. These will include the required Core Courses (30 credits). The choice of remaining elective History coursework (30 credits) is entirely at the student’s discretion. This coursework varies, however, depending on whether you have chosen to declare the general History major or one of the History thematic options. If you do the general History major, the remaining 30 credits of coursework must have a THIST prefix, and 25 of those credits must be upper division. If you choose one of the thematic options, you must choose 30 elective credits from the approved course lists.

For questions about the History major, contact an academic advisor, or History major coordinator Associate Teaching Professor William Burghart.

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Core Requirements:

Required 30 credits (each course 5 credits unless otherwise noted)

To be taken after consultation with an advisor:

GENERAL OPTION: 30 credits

The General option is designed to offer students a survey of history and build upon the core requirements. 

The General Option requires 30 credits with a THIST prefix. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses. For THIST options, please see the complete list of course offerings.

ARTS, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY HISTORY OPTION: 30 credits

The Arts, Culture, and Society option is designed to offer students a strong foundation for understanding the interconnection between cultural production and historical causation where ideas, art, architecture, literature, film and the performing arts function as agents of social and historical change.This option is interdisciplinary and examines the intersection and interaction between politics, science, economics, social ritual and development, class, gender, and race across a global environment over time.

The Arts, Culture, and Society Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.

GLOBAL HISTORY OPTION: 30 credits

The Global History option is designed to offer students a strong foundation for understanding the relational forces between continents, and the historical process of globalization. Colonialism, imperialism, anticolonial independence movements, and the national and transnational effects they cause are additional areas of study.  This option is interdisciplinary and prepares students for investigating issues of globalization, such as the impact of colonization and aggressive imperial expansion on dominated territories and their history.

The Global History Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.

LABOR AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OPTION: 30 credits

The Labor and Social Movements option is designed to offer students a strong foundation for understanding historical roots and processes that shape political, intellectual, economic and social developments and consequently the conditions of the working class in a global context.  This option is interdisciplinary and examines the culture, politics, and socioeconomic conditions as they intersect with gender, labor, and race in changing contexts of im(migration), famine, disenfranchiesement, marginalization, oppression, and political disempowerment. Consequently, this option explores and analyzies social movements responding to these conditions such as socialism, protest, community organization, unionism, and revolution.

The Labor and Social Movements Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.

POWER, GENDER, AND IDENTITY OPTION: 30 credits

The Power, Gender, and Identity option offers a strong foundation for understanding the historical roots of intersections between race, gender, ethnicity, class, and socioeconomics that have created and continue to transform hierarchical structures of power. This option is interdisciplinary and examines the origins of social stratification with regard to race, gender, ethnicity, and class.  In consultation with primary sources drawn from divergent cultural, social and natural science documents, this option explores the historical context of marginalization, disenfranchisement, political and economic inequality and disempowerment.

The Power, Gender, and Identity Option requires 30 credits from the list below. 25 credits must be upper-division THIST courses.