Department of History

The study of history is an essential part of a liberal arts education and offers valuable preparation for careers in law, journalism, and public history; in local, state, and national public service; in business, where a knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs is desirable, as well as in teaching and the advanced study of history. By exposing students to a variety of cultures and human experience and by training them in the interpretation of conflicting evidence, the History Department prepares students for the responsibilities of citizenship and for dealing with the ambiguities of human existence. Finally, the discipline of history provides an intellectual challenge as well as a stimulus to the imagination and to analytical thinking.

The History Department at Appalachian State provides students with knowledge of their own cultural tradition and an appreciation of other cultures and societies of the past. It promotes an appreciation of the complexity of human affairs and the difficulties involved in interpreting them. The Department offers a broad curriculum in local, national, regional, and world history which encourages history majors to develop a comparative approach to human problems.