History affords the opportunity to appreciate the diversity of human encounters through the inquiry of one’s own and other’s cultures and societies as they have developed over time. The study of history is a meticulous intellectual discipline involving research techniques, problem solving, and the critical evaluation of evidence. Historians seek and critique what women and men of the past have left behind, what they have created and what imprints they have left on the global society.

The Program of History endeavors to infuse in its majors, and in students from other disciplines who sample its offerings, the knowledge that no undertaking to shape the past meaningful, the present intelligible, or the future conceivable can be disjointed from the effort to embrace alternation over time. The program fosters the intelligent application of that effort by demanding students to contemplate themselves and their culture as changing actualities in a historical continuum—not as the intention or finale of the past.  

The field of history is inherently interdisciplinary. Park University’s program and curriculum employs a diversity of methodologies in its efforts to present students who examine, discuss, and write regarding entangled issues with intelligence and clearness. Through its curricular offerings, the Program endeavors to present students to the richness, diversity and complexities of human history through diverse periods and in dissimilar geographic regions, with application to critical issues. 

The Program’s courses, some of which specifically emphasize scholarly methods, engage students in the historian’s craft by enjoining them to dissect primary and secondary sources and to write extensively. The capstone experience evolves in the seminars, tutorials and theses, in which students write substantial research papers on original topics of their own selection. The comprehensive composition of the curriculum is designed to inspire students first to acquire critical analytical and interpretative skills and foundational background knowledge and then to advance both their analytical abilities and their particular historical interests through focused topical studies and independent research. 

All full-time faculty members hold doctorates and are actively engaged in research, scholarship, presentations, and service. The Program emphasizes excellent undergraduate teaching, and some members have received awards for outstanding teaching. Through program course offerings, students enjoin in exploring the world’s past. Faculty members encourage off-campus study and foreign language study, sponsor diverse speakers, and arrange formal and informal gatherings, via our Phi Alpha Theta chapter.

The study of history prepares students for a wide range of occupations and professions such as: graduate studies, museum administration, historic preservation, teaching, government, law school, archival, business, and publication.

A Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Degree in History is available as a 16-week (Parkville Campus) or Portfolio program. A minor in history is also available in the 16-week program.