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The Department of History and Political Science

The Department of History and Political Science provides students with the tools necessary to function as responsible and productive members of their communities.

Our graduates work with others and appreciate and respect different opinions and beliefs while also thinking independently and critically.  The Department encourages the growth of self-discipline, intellectual ability, critical thinking, and the ability to express ideas with clarity and precision.  Recognizing the importance of experiential learning, the Department of History and Political Science encourages its students to explore opportunities to learn outside the classroom.

Special academic opportunities include working with faculty one-on-one on research projects during the summer, in independent studies during the academic year, and in a two-semester senior Honors program. The faculty in the department also encourages off-campus study, whether in the Washington, D.C. area or in another country.

Honors in History and Political Science

Students with a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, and who meet all university and departmental curricular requirements, and have grades averaging 3.2 or higher in courses in their major will be, at the end of their junior year, eligible to become candidates for the history or political science major with honors. Students who have not met these standards may be invited to candidacy by the department. Six credits will be assigned, normally three hours each semester. A successful defense of an honors paper must be conducted and a minimum grade of 3.5 must be earned for the student’s registration in an Honors Course to appear on the transcript. For further guidance, see the History and Political Science Department’s Honors Thesis Guidelines.

Pre-Law Training Faculty Advisor:  Jason Jagemann

The Association of American Law Schools identifies the following as the major objectives to be sought in an undergraduate pre-law curriculum:

• comprehension and expression in words;
• critical understanding of the human institutions and values with which the law deals;
• creative power in thinking.

These goals can best be approached with a curriculum where social sciences and English play the leading part. One of the leading American law schools advises college students preparing to study law: “The importance of history in a pre-legal program cannot be over emphasized”; and of political science: “This subject also is one with which the lawyer must be well-acquainted and it, too, is a natural college major for pre-law students.” Accounting (for which mathematics is a prerequisite) is also strongly recommended by law schools.