PROSPECTIVE STUDENT

ANNOUNCEMENTS!

Dear History Majors,

A special welcome to the incoming Freshman and the first quarter Transfer Students.  

Transfer students may make an appointment with Student Affairs Advisor, Amber Rieder (historyundergrad@ucsd.edu) after the second week of the quarter.

NEW DIRECTOR:
Professor Sarah Schneewind is the History Undergraduate Director for the 2008-2009 academic year.

HISTORY WAIT LIST POLICY:
The campus has a wait list system in place. Wait lists wll be automated. When a seat becomes available in a course, the next eligible person from the wait list will be automatically enrolled.

Classes can be waited listed until the end of the second week of classes. If you do not meet the class requirements/prerequisites, the wait system will not add you into the class.

FALL ADVISING:
Student Affairs Advisors will process degree checks after the second week of the quarter. If you are a graduating senior (WI09 or SP09), you should stop by for a degree check.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES FOR HISTORY MAJORS:
The learning objectives of the history major at UCSD comprise a combination of basic knowledge, critical skills, research skills and powers of expression.

In terms of basic knowledge, our students must master a narrative of basic events and developments over time in the field of emphasis. They have to compare and constrast political, social, and cultural formations in at least two places or fields of inquiry in the past. We also require that they understand at least one pre-modern (pre-1800) political, social, and cultural formation.

As far as critical skills are concerned, UCSD history majors learn to identify, through acquisition of a historical perspective, personal, class and cultural values that shape decisions in public, professional, and private lives. Our students become skilled at raising questions about narratives presented in tertiary sources, such as textbooks, popular history books, and the mass media. These skills allow them to apply interpretive and critical skills in all settings, including the workplace.

UCS history majors are given extensive opportunities to develop their powers of expression. They are asked to write both short and sustained interpretive essays and research papers in clear and correct English that are well organized; to use primary, secondary, and tertiary sources to construct an argument; to follow proper citation practices; and to express original thoughts about the material. They are also required to articulate questions, present arguments and marshal evidence in small group discussion settings.

Our majors have good training in research skills. They learn to read primary sources intelligently, to assess and place them and generate productive questions. They are required to find reference materials to answer basic questions about primary sources, and to check facts in tertiary sources. After formulating questions raised by primary and tertiary sources, they learn to propose informed and thoughtful answers to them by carrying out research in primary and secondary sources as well as reference materials.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

FALL 2006 UNDERGRADUATE INFORMATION MEETING
TBA

Come and learn about the major; and meet our new faculty and hear about their courses.  Current History graduate students will be present to share their graduate educational experiences. Faculty and staff will be available to answer your questions. Light refreshments will be served.

GENERAL INFORMATION