Objectives

The study of history is a cornerstone of liberal arts education. It contributes to the encouragement of learning by offering a wide variety of courses that cultivate an understanding of both familiar and unfamiliar pasts and cultures. It forms a foundation for the education of the whole person, fostering essential analytical skills: careful observation and reading of primary and secondary texts, argumentation based on evidence, articulate expression, and moral reflection. History courses ground discussions of the service of faith and the promotion of justice by emphasizing the role of change over time, showing how today’s world evolved out of the interactions between individuals and groups of people. History courses embody two additional goals of liberal arts education at Loyola Marymount University. First, history courses are intercultural in focus, examining a variety of cultures and emphasizing interconnections among peoples and societies. Second, they are interdisciplinary both in content and in methodology, drawing source material and analytical techniques from literature, philosophy, theology, art, anthropology, ethnography, and archaeology. By touching on so many different disciplines, history performs an integrative function for undergraduate education and beyond. It enables students to situate their study of philosophy, religion, literature, the arts, and the sciences in specific social and historical contexts and impels students to understand the questions posed in each of these academic disciplines in new and different ways.

Prerequisites for Declaring a Major or Minor in History

At entry to the University, students declare the major/minor through the Office of Admission. LMU students wishing to declare the major/minor must first meet with the department chair, who will ordinarily sign the student’s Change of Program form. The history department requires a minimum LMU GPA of 2.0 (C) and the students should not be on academic probation. It also requires an average grade of C (2.0) in all history courses taken before declaring a major or minor, including courses at other institutions. The history department accepts Advanced Placement courses in European and American history to fulfill lower division history requirements, provided the scores of the AP examinations are 5 or 4.