Program Description

The goal of the history major at Purchase College is to provide students with the intellectual foundation of a liberal arts education that is suitable for a wide variety of professions, including law, teaching, government, business, and publishing. The history curriculum seeks to foster the development of a historical perspective on the forces and processes that have shaped and continue to shape our communities, our country, and the world at large. In keeping with the special profile of Purchase College, the History Program has generally, though not exclusively, emphasized the social, intellectual, and cultural dimensions of the discipline.

Students may define their field of concentration in terms of broadly conceived areas—the Americas, Europe, and Asia—or in terms of major chronological eras that allow them to include more than one area. Specific concentrations in Asian studies and Jewish history are also available. Coursework in the History Program frequently includes intensive writing and an emphasis on primary source material. Students may also pursue topics of special interest through tutorials and directed independent studies, which may be arranged with individual instructors.

Program Faculty

Requirements for the Major

• Five history courses in a field of concentration, including three at the upper level
• Two history courses outside the field of concentration, including one at the upper level
• Junior History Seminar
• Senior History Colloquium
• Senior Project in History

Representative Courses

Capital and Empire: Europe in the 19th Century
Colonial and Revolutionary America
Contemporary Europe
Cross-Cultural Interactions: U.S. and East Asia
Culture and Society in 20th-Century America
Emergence of the Modern U.S.: 1877–1945
History of Popular Culture in the U.S.
Ideas and Society in the Age of Enlightenment
Introduction to Asian Studies
Introduction to Latin American Studies
Jewish Culture and Civilization
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Latin American Intellectuals in the Era of the Revolution
Modern East Asia
Modern Latin America
Politics and Literature in 20th-Century China
Princes, Priests, and Peasants
Renaissance and Reformation Europe
Race, Ethnicity, and Identity in the U.S.
Religion and Politics in Europe
Slavery and Social Status in the Atlantic World
The Ancient Middle East
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The 18th-Century Revolutions
Traditional China
20th-Century Europe
Vietnam and Modern America
Women in America

Representative Alumni

• Joshua Abeles ’91, electronic discovery consultant, LexisNexis Applied Discovery
• Kathy Chapman ’85, chief operating officer, MGP Group
• Siobhan Cole ’05, JD, University of Pennsylvania; associate in the commercial litigation department at Cole, White, and Williams LLP, Philadelphia
• Felicia Halpert ’80, digital operations manager, Pearson Education
• Theresa Hanson ’00, MLIS, Long Island University; paralegal, The Baker Companies
• Michael Nagy ’98, bond trader, Deutsche Bank
• Michael Powell ’78, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist; currently reporting for The New York Times; former New York bureau chief, The Washington Post
• Ray Sapirstein ’86, PhD, University of Texas, Austin; assistant professor of history, University of Albany, SUNY
• Constantin Sokoloff ’81, independent counsel for the United Nations and European Union institutions

For more information, visit the History site in Academic Programs.

Updated June 6, 2011

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