The Rockhurst history department offers a wide spectrum of courses in American, European and world history. The history program equips students to think critically, reason discerningly and communicate effectively through exposure to the human condition across many times and places.
Program Overview
Students in the history major can choose from courses as diverse as Crusades, chivalry, and the medieval experience, as well as science, religion and magic in modern Europe, the modern Middle East, American women, and American cultural and diplomatic history.
Each faculty member in Rockhurst's department of history holds a Ph.D. and is an active scholar and presenter in their field. Faculty members have traveled and studied widely throughout the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and bring their experiences into the classroom. In other words, you'll learn from the best.
A history degree pairs perfectly with many other disciplines, including education, theology, biology, philosophy, business and pre-law, just to name a few. History courses are an important part of interdisciplinary minors such as medical humanities and leadership development.
For further information, contact Joanna Vitiello, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of History, at joanna.carrawayvitiello@rockhurst.edu or 816-501-4316.
Rockhurst History Alumni
Please let us know what you are doing! Contact Cecilia Samonte, Ph.D., at: cecilia.samonte@rockhurst.edu
Learning Outcomes
Read and comprehend complete and/or excerpted primary historical documents, based on a demonstrated ability to
- summarize the essential content of the document
- identify key themes
- explain the background and historical context of the document (time, place, cultural conditions, links to other course readings and topics).
Comprehend works of secondary historical scholarship, based on a demonstrated ability to
- identify the key themes in the text
- use examples of supporting data and specific detail
- describe the relationship between the themes and the supporting data (indicate how the details of the historical text contribute to and support the identified themes)
Understand, on a basic level, the essential nature of history as a complex, dynamic process of story-telling and interpretation of past events, based on a demonstrated ability to
- recognize a sequence of chronology in a text
- use examples to explain the interconnection among events (i.e. how one event or series of events/developments leads or contributes to another
- explain the concept of historical periods as post-facto chronological divisions devised to facilitate understanding of the characteristics of a designated era.
All history majors are expected to demonstrate SLO #1, #2, and #3 and the following:
Produce coherent essays on historical topics by applying the historical method which incorporates the following skills:
- analyzing historical sources
- constructing an argument
- organizing supporting evidence
Program Outcomes
At Rockhurst, students of history develop cultural competence and an understanding of themselves as global citizens as they prepare themselves for professional success in a wide variety of fields. The study of the past teaches us to think critically, reason empathetically, and communicate clearly as we explore the human experience and the forces that shaped it.
Through the past, we understand our present — and our future.
Consider This…
- The Rockhurst History Department offers a wide spectrum of courses in American, European and World History. Students can choose from courses as diverse as Ancient History, Crusades, Chivalry, and the Medieval Experience, American Women, and American cultural and diplomatic history.
- Upper Division students can pursue their own areas of interest through independent study courses.
- A degree in history prepares students for a variety of different careers. Our graduates are engaged in a variety of different careers, including government service, law, secondary and higher education, international business, journalism, museum and archival work, criminal justice and non-profit work.
Equipped with the ability to examine problems from a historical lens, graduates continue their education at prestigious institutions such as:
- Notre Dame
- Villanova University
- University of Westminster
- Trinity College, Dublin
The jobs for history majors are varied. Graduates of Rockhurst's history program have gone on to work in careers mentioned below.
Attorney
Paralegal
Educator
Analyst
Intelligence Agent
Military Officer
Historic Site Manager
Museum Professional
Course Map
Degree and class descriptions and requirements can be found by clicking on the course catalog listings below:
Popular Courses
Fulfills the core curriculum requirement for a “Historical Foundations” course. This course introduces key concepts regarding the methods and perspectives employed in the study of history as well as the nature and relevance of historical studies.
This course examines the history and diverse cultures of the world since ca. 1492—the era of the rise of European political, economic and cultural worldwide dominance—until the present day. It is organized chronologically and thematically. Themes include the individual and society, autocracy and constitutionalism, the formation of new global economies and empires, racism, nationalism, colonialism, world wars, tensions between tradition and modernization, and internationalism.
A survey of the history of the United States from Reconstruction to the present. Themes include industrial development, immigration, the Depression, the World Wars, and the development of contemporary American society and culture.
An introduction to the theory and practice of the historian’s craft, this course reviews acknowledged masterpieces of historiography and examines important issues raised in the writing of history. Readings in the great historians are supplemented by consideration of such topics as the nature of history and the problems of historical causation, objectivity and use encountered by historians.
Degree Info
- Rockhurst history students have earned internships at the National World War I Museum and Memorial, John Wornall House Museum, Museum at Prairiefire, Great Plains National Archives, as well as the Rockhurst University Archives.
- Advanced students have the opportunity to pursue their own areas of interest and research by contracting with a professor for an independent study course.
- Students have the opportunity to join Rockhurst’s chapter of the national honor society for history, Phi Alpha Theta.
- Access to history resources
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