History - Mount St. Mary`s University

HIWI 202 A
Making History: The Civil War Era
Dr. Curt Johnson
MWF 1:00 – 1:50 PM
A writing intensive course examining the causes, conduct, and aftermath of
the bloodiest conflict in American history. Through lectures and the
discussion of readings drawn from the period, the course will examine
antebellum American society and the break-up of the Union, the course of the
war, and the political and social changes it engendered, and the effort to
“Reconstruct” the defeated South.
HILP 222 A
Age of Discovery
Dr. Greg Murry
T/TH 9:30 – 10:45 AM
This course examines European encounters with America, Asia, and Africa
from the age of Columbus through the end of the early modern period.
Taking trade, violence, and missionary activity as its primary themes, this
course will analyze the causes and consequences of the expansion of
European power across the globe. We will also analyze native responses to
Europeans; the large scale changes engendered in Western Civilization by
global encounters; and the emergence of Europe as a global scientific,
political, and military power.
HIST 268 A
The Civil Rights Era
Dr. Tim Fritz
MWF 9:00 – 9:50 AM
Sex, war, and protests represent some of the major themes of the 1960s in
the United States. This course situates the Civil Rights Movement within
broader national turmoil through a broad survey of U.S. history during the
long decade of the 1960s, while paying particular attention to social
transformations in American life as a response to various foreign and
domestic events.
HIST 276 A
US Women’s History to 1877
Dr. Michelle Patterson
MW 2:00 – 3:15 PM
Explores the experiences of women from the colonial era to the
beginnings of the women’s rights movement in the nineteenth
century. It will examine the private lives of women, including
marriage and family, sexuality and reproduction, and labor and
education, and women’s participation in the public sphere,
paying particular attention to how changing conceptions of
gender have expanded or limited women’s social and cultural
roles. While this course will explore the unity of women’s lives in
the American past, it will also explore the ways race, ethnicity,
and class have shaped women’s experiences. Students will gain
an understanding of how gender was historically constructed and
of important interpretive issues in early American women’s
history.
HIST 283 A
Military History II: 1871- Present
Prof. David Cohill
MW 6:00 – 7:15 PM
This course covers the evolution of Western military strategy
and operations from the late nineteenth century to the early
twenty first century. Major conflicts examined include World
War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and
warfare in the Middle East. While the course focuses on the
higher levels of military command and strategy, selected
military operations, such as the major campaigns on the
Western Front in both World War I and World War II, are
explored in more detail.
HIGE 297 A
SP: Modern East Asia
Dr. Justus Hartzok
T/TH 5:00 – 6:15 PM
This course serves as an introduction to the history of modern
East Asia, examining the political, economic, cultural, and
religious institutions of traditional states, particularly China
and Japan, before 1600. Through a comparative approach, we
will discuss the ways in which Asian societies responded to
Western intrusion and imperialism, with special focus on the
complex interactions that took place from the eighteenth to the
twentieth centuries, as Asian governments attempted to
modernize their countries while preserving their distinct
cultural identities. Major topics include Chinese and Japanese
nationalism, the Meiji Restoration, the rise and fall of the
Japanese Empire, the theory and practice of Maoism and the
Chinese Communist Revolution, and the development of both
China and Japan as economic superpowers.
HIST 396 A
Modern European Intellectual History
Dr. Steven White
MWF 3:00 – 3:50 PM
This course explores a challenging ambivalence inherent in
modern European history. How is it that the past century and a
half has fostered such creativity in so many fields of
endeavor—while also engendering such fateful ideological
conformity and intolerance To respond to this question we will
inquire into the lives of key innovators of modernity, From
Einstein, Picasso and Freud to Marinetti, Woolf and Camus.
Following Camus’ lead, the last third of the course will focus
on ethical commitment to causes such decolonization, feminism
and environmentalism.
HIST 460 A
Catholic Maryland
Dr. Charles Strauss
MW 2:00 – 3:40 PM
This upper-level course is designed as an interactive and
student-driven seminar on the history of Catholic teaching,
practice, people, and culture in the colony and later state of
Maryland from the 17th century to the present. Students will
read recently published historical monographs and journal
articles on Maryland's Catholic past as well as a set of primary
texts that include political treatises, architectural renderings,
school curriculum, prayer books and hymnals, and
contemporary congressional debates and legislation. A class
field trip to St. Mary's City, Maryland's first colonial settlement
and capital, is now in the planning stages. The course capstone
project will focus on the history of Mount St. Mary's and all
students, under the editorship of Dr. Strauss, will contribute to a
new history of The National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of
Lourdes, which has been commissioned by the University and
will take advantage of the newly reopened Mount St. Mary's
University Rhoads Memorial Archives. Students will receive a
solid grounding in the historiography of American Catholic
History in the Mid-Atlantic region, an opportunity to visit a
historical site (tentative), and hands-on experience in writing
history for public consumption. Dr. Strauss will schedule an
introductory meeting for all enrolled students before the end of
the Spring 2015 semester.
HIST 498 A
Senior Seminar
Dr. Jamie Gianoutsos
T/TH 9:30 – 10:45 AM
HIST 498 B
Senior Seminar
Dr. Michelle Patterson
T/TH 3:30 – 4:45 PM
In the fall of their senior year, history majors will research a
major historical topic and then present their findings on that
topic in both written and oral forms. Students wishing to
investigate a European or Non-Western topic should sign up for
Dr. Gianoutsos’s Section A. Those who wish to study an
American or Canadian topic should register for Dr. Patterson’s
Section B.