Department of History

Sean P. Cunningham, Ph.D., Chairperson

Professors: Cunningham, D’Amico, Hahn, Howe, Iber, McBee, Stoll, Willet, Wong
Associate Professors: Adams, Barenberg, Baum, Bjerk, Brittsan, Calkins, Forsythe, Hart, Johnson, Legacey, Levario, Lutjens, Milam, Mosher, Pelley, Skidmore, Swingen
Assistant Professors: Franklin, McCahey, Nelson
Senior Lecturers: Poole, Verrone

CONTACT INFORMATION: 131 Holden Hall | Box 41013 | Lubbock, TX 79409-1013 | T 806.742.3744 | F 806.742.1060 | www.history.ttu.edu

About the Department

This department supervises the following degree programs:

• Bachelor of Arts in History  
• Master of Arts in History  
• Doctor of Philosophy in History  

The department also participates in a minor in women’s and gender studies  and a minor in secondary education; Honors College programs; Mexican American and Latina/o Studies; the Institute for Peace and Conflict; and Arts & Sciences minors in Asian studies , community and urban studies , environmental studies , ethnic studies , European studies , family life studies , and religion studies .

The broad liberal arts foundation available through a major in history can deepen students’ understanding of the complex world in which they live, stimulate intellectual attitudes conducive to effective participation in contemporary society, and cultivate those mental skills required for meaningful employment in many areas of the modern economic system. A history student may consider a career in teaching within colleges, universities, or public schools; in park administration; in regional and local historical society work; in archives and records management; in museum work; in various branches of government work; and in business and industry generally. Many students use their undergraduate history major as a preparation for advanced studies in such areas as law, medicine, and theology. The Department of History boasts an outstanding and diverse faculty with expertise in a wide range of specializations. The department is particularly strong in the areas of international politics and political culture and United States history with an emphasis on the U.S. in a global context. It is also strong in Texas history, the history of the American west and southwest, and borderlands history; modern and early modern European history; and world history. The department maintains thematic strengths in the history of race, imperialism, and national identity; foreign relations, war, and society/military history; gender and sexuality; memory, commemoration, and political culture; environmental history; business history; the history of technology; and religious history.

Undergraduate Program

Communication Literacy Requirement. Students attending Texas Tech University for the first time in the Fall 2017 term or later will complete a Communication Literacy requirement in their program(s) of study. Texas Tech University’s transition from the Writing Intensive requirement to the Communication Literacy requirement signals the university’s awareness that in addition to the fundamental role that writing plays in enabling students to explore, develop, focus, and organize a message, other types of communication must also be taught as appropriate for a student’s discipline. Throughout each program of study, students must be given ample opportunity to develop their skills in forms of communication central to that program. All students following the 2017-2018 catalog should consult the catalog information specific to their program(s) of study for more information about their Communication Literacy requirement.

Note: All courses numbered at the 3000 and 4000 level are upper-division (or “advanced”) courses. Effective Fall 2017, all HIST courses at the 4000 level will qualify toward the university’s “Communication Literacy” requirement.  Additionally, all 4000 level HIST courses require junior standing and the consent of the instructor. A student must receive at least a C in any HIST course if it is to count toward the major or minor.

Teacher Certification in History or Social Studies

The Department of History cooperates with the College of Education in preparing students for teacher certification in history or social studies for grades 7-12. Students wishing to teach social studies for grades 7-12 should major in history while minoring in secondary education and should complete their certification through the Texas Tech University College of Education’s TechTeach program.

In order to fully understand the teacher certification process, students are strongly encouraged to consult with the undergraduate advisor in the College of Education to learn more about teacher certification programs in the State of Texas and the requirements related to those programs.

Graduate Program

For information on graduate programs offered by the Department of History, visit the Graduate Programs  section.

Undergraduate Program Offerings, Course Descriptions & Curricular Tables

(Click on program for curricular table.)

Programs

• History, B.A.

• History, Undergraduate Minor
• Mexican American & Latina/o Studies, Undergraduate Minor
• Military History, Undergraduate Minor

Courses

Courses are identified as follows: United States history = US; European history = E; African, Asian or Latin American history = AAL.

• HIST 4317 - The American Culture of Curiosity, 1800-1860
• HIST 4319 - Empire and Imperialism in United States History
• HIST 4320 - Monuments, Memory, and Commemoration
• HIST 4323 - Nature and Americans
• HIST 4324 - History of Capitalism
• HIST 4325 - Hysterical Women and Other Comics
• HIST 4326 - A History of Sexuality in the United States
• HIST 4328 - Bad Girls in Early America
• HIST 4329 - Race, Identity, and Citizenship in the United States
• HIST 4330 - Jim Crow America: From Ferguson to Ferguson
• HIST 4333 - Law and Legality in the American West
• HIST 4334 - Race and Medicine in American History
• HIST 4337 - History of American Seapower
• HIST 4338 - History of “Small Wars”
• HIST 4340 - A History of Disability in Europe
• HIST 4341 - Ancient Greece
• HIST 4342 - Ancient Rome
• HIST 4343 - Alexander the Great
• HIST 4344 - The Homeric Poems and the Trojan War: The Aegean World during the Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages
• HIST 4346 - A History of Food in Europe
• HIST 4347 - History of the Medieval Church
• HIST 4348 - The Renaissance
• HIST 4349 - The Protestant Reformation
• HIST 4351 - Origins of the British Empire to 1783
• HIST 4352 - Witchcraft and Witch Hunting in the Early Modern Western World
• HIST 4353 - The French Revolution and Napoleon
• HIST 4354 - From Vampires to Death Tourism: The Dead in Europe since 1700
• HIST 4359 - Cultural Brilliance and Political Failure: Germany’s Weimar Republic, 1919-1933
• HIST 4360 - Germany Since 1945: A Divided Nation Confronts Its Past
• HIST 4361 - The USSR and the Cold War
• HIST 4363 - Emergence of New Nations in Latin America
• HIST 4365 - Foundations of Contemporary Mexico
• HIST 4370 - Great Cities
• HIST 4371 - Race, Nation, and Identity
• HIST 4372 - History of Comparative Genocide
• HIST 4373 - Britain in Crisis: Reformations and Revolutions in the Early Modern Era
• HIST 4375 - Social and Cultural History of Europe, 1800 to the Present
• HIST 4376 - History of the Italian Mafia
• HIST 4378 - History of Italian Fascism
• HIST 4379 - Revolutionary Russia
• HIST 4380 - A History of Masculinity
• HIST 4381 - Colonial Mexico and the Spanish Borderlands
• HIST 4382 - Walking the Line: The History of U.S. Mexico Border Relations since 1836
• HIST 4383 - History of Central Asia
• HIST 4384 - Global Buddhism
• HIST 4385 - Global Islam: Past and Present
• HIST 4386 - Slavery in Africa
• HIST 4387 - The Social History of Currency from Beads to Bitcoin
• HIST 4390 - The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• HIST 4391 - Modern South Africa
• HIST 4393 - Modern China
• HIST 4394 - Modern Japan
• HIST 4395 - Modern Vietnam
• HIST 4397 - Readings and Research in History
• HIST 4398 - Senior Seminar in History
• HIST 4399 - Special Topics in History II
• HIST 4696 - Studies Abroad in Southeast Asia

• HIST 5102 - Teaching History in College
• HIST 5309 - Studies in the History of United States Imperialism
• HIST 5313 - Studies in American Legal History
• HIST 5347 - Studies in Early Modern British History