History Program Learning Outcomes

After Pacific | The history program at Pacific University prepares graduates to think critically and analyze information and events. Skills gained from examining, understanding and communicating complex historical information through written text and verbal presentations apply to nearly every profession. Our graduates are international English teachers, archivists for museums and libraries, attorneys, teachers and professors, and graduate students in a variety of fields.

Student Learning Outcomes

As a result of taking this class, students will be able to:

  • Historical Knowledge: Demonstrate fundamental knowledge of key facts, themes, and ideas in the history of leadership
  • Historiography: Critically evaluate how historians and others have interpreted the past and understand the stakes of conversations among historians within defined historical fields
  • Critical Thinking and Intellectual Integration: Synthesize historical arguments based on the analysis of primary source evidence and secondary source interpretations
  • Research Skills: Conduct basic historical research including the effective use of libraries, archives, and online databases
  • Oral Communication Skills: Demonstrate their mastery of historical knowledge and practice through classroom discussion, debates, and oral presentations
  • Writing Skills: Demonstrate their mastery of historical knowledge and practice through clear and coherent written work

Core Requirements: Historical Context SLOs

In addition to other learning objectives unique to this course, it also fulfills credits toward the core requirement and they will:
  • Explain the significance of historical events in relation to their time and place
  • Describe past events from multiple perspectives
  • Become proficient in placing events along a chronology in order to analyze causal relationships and assess how the study of the past helps one to make sense of the present

Program Purpose

The discipline of history is central to the liberal arts; it draws on and contributes to neighboring fields, such as political science, literature, philosophy and the arts, to name but a few. History is essential to an understanding of the evolutionary nature of institutions, societies, and values that have not only shaped the past but inform the present. The study of history prepares students for a wide range of professions, including law, government, archival and museum work, and professions in travel and teaching.