History

Overview

At CSU, we ask historical questions and follow the evidence to understand what happened in the past and why it happened. Through historical research, we move away from judgment and assumptions about other cultures and instead learn from every historical moment, including our own.

We have led in the creation of graduate public history programs, and now have an undergraduate concentration in Digital and Public History , as well as concentrations in General History, Language, and Social Studies Teaching.

The History majors work in many different careers in public history in museums, archives, state and local government agencies in historic preservation and cultural resources management, the National Park Service and Forest Service, and consulting; they work in schools as teachers and administrators; they work in public service; and they are prepared for graduate and professional school in a variety of fields. We offer internships in many of these fields for CSU credit to help students explore their interests in history.

Learning Outcomes

Students in the History program from Colorado State University :

• Analyze and interpret historical materials, such as documents, material artifacts, and images;

• Engage in chronological reasoning to understand causation and change over time;

• Examine critically how people in the past understood their own history in scholarly works and in popular forms such as myths, memorials, and other public commemorations;

• Interpret, write, and speak about the past using evidence and according to the standards and expectations of the historical discipline, including honest use of evidence, openness to multiple perspectives, and historical empathy; and

• Analyze both change and continuities over time by considering how events such as revolution, migration, war, ecological disturbance, and globalization changed societies as well as how structures like class, ethnicity, gender, race, sexuality, climate and religion shaped societies over a longer time horizon.