Welcome!

The primary mission of the EMU History Section is to teach and to mentor our students. To enable students and faculty to get to know each other, we limit our upper-level undergraduate classes to 25 or 33 students and our graduate classes to 15. Professors are also available to students outside the classroom for everything from advice on research to the letters of recommendation so important to their future success. This contact often continues long after students graduate.

The extensive expertise of our 20 professors and four full-time lecturers enables us to offer courses covering a broad range of historical topics every semester. We regularly offer classes on the history of Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Canada, as well as courses in African-American and Native American history, gay and lesbian history, and women's history. Course offerings also reflect faculty expertise in military history, social and intellectual history, the history of religion, and state and local history. We make these classes available in a variety of formats, including online, weekend, one week, evening, and travel classes.

We encourage you to explore this site to learn more about our undergraduate and graduate programs, our faculty and staff, and the opportunities we offer to students, alumni, and the community. To learn more about what we have to offer, please contact us by phone or email.

Changes to Social Science and Area Studies Programs

Effective Summer 2008, the Social Science major has been modified to make it more similar to the Social Studies for Teaching major. Among the changes is a change in name to 'Social Studies.' New requirements for the program can be found here. Students who declared a major in Social Science before Fall 2008 have six years to complete their degrees under the old program, or they may switch to the new program.

Effective Summer 2008, the minor in Social Science has been discontinued. Students who have declared a minor in Social Science have six years to complete their degrees.

Effective Summer 2008, the major in Area Studies has been discontinued; however, the minor in Area Studies will continue to be offered. Students who have declared a major in Area Studies have six years to complete their degrees.

Special Course Offerings for Fall 2008

This fall we are offering four special topics courses for undergraduates. Walter Moss will offer HIST 479: Violence and Other 20th Century Global Trends, a seminar based on his new book, An Age of Progress. HIST 379: The History of American Sports, taught by Steven Ramold, will examine shifting American tastes in sports and leisure as a reflection of changing American economic, political, and social attitudes. John McCurdy will be offering HIST 379: The History of Sexuality in America, a historical exploration of intimate relations in the US. Topics to be covered include the colonial family, interracial relations, birth control, sexually transmitted diseases, the rise of the gay community, and abortion. John Knight will teach HIST 379: The History of the Middle East: From the Rise of Islam to 1800. This is a new course which we hope will become a regular offering.

We are also offering HIST 442: Modern China in a weekend only format, and we are offering HIST 124: The US 1877 to Present on the Livonia campus. We recently added a section of HIST 100: The Comparative Study of Religion to our online offerings for the fall.

Classes offered this fall that meet the Historical Writing (HW) requirement are 306: Hinduism, 319: The Civil Rights Movement in the US, 341: The History of the Middle East, 1798 to Present, 379: The History of the Middle East: From the Rise of Islam to 1800, 379: The History of Sexuality in America, 380: The American Colonies to Independence, 412: England from 1689, and 464: The Old West, 1540 to 1890.

 

Alum Wins Statewide Award for History Teaching

EMU History alum Rachel Krumwiede has been awarded the 2008 Jim & Annette McConnell Educator Award for Excellence in Teaching History.  The Michigan Council for History Education awards three of these awards annually, and Ms. Krumwiede is this year’s winner in the pre-service category.  Rachel graduated in April with majors in History for Teaching and in Language, Literature and Writing for Teaching.  While at Eastern she served as President of Phi Alpha Theta and the Students’ History Association, and she did her student teaching at Plymouth High School.  As the new Education Coordinator at the Yankee Air Museum in Willow Run, Michigan, she is creating an education program for the museum.

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Robert Duke Joins Faculty

Bob Duke brings extensive experience in K-12 teaching and administration into the classroom at EMU this fall as a new member of the Department of History & Philosophy. Duke earned his doctorate at Western Michigan University in August, 2008. His dissertation, "Bilingual Education, Federalism, and the Political Culture of American Public Education, 1964-1980," explored how issues of race and ethnicity intersect with the longtime quest of classroom teachers to have a meaningful voice in the operation of their schools. The case studies of communities in Texas and Michigan demonstrate the importance of local political culture in shaping community responses to federal education policies. Professor Duke plans to continue researching and writing about the relationship between the federal government and local school districts. An example of his approach may be found in his article, "Ft. Custer and the Village of Augusta, Michigan, 1939-1941," in the International Journal of Regional and Local Studies (Vol. I Summer 2005). Other research interests include environmental history, the use of music as a representation of popular and political culture, and the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Professor Duke

Outside of the classroom, which he considers to be his "natural environment," Bob is an avid musician, cyclist, fisherman, and dog-lover.

Internship Listings

Openings are now listed on the Internships page.

Schmitz Awarded Sabbatical; Citino Appointed Visiting Professor at West Point

In fall 2008 Dr. Schmitz will be on sabbatical leave completing a volume entitled, Historical Dictionary of Ancient Phoenician Civilization, which will be published in the series, 'Historical Dictionaries of Ancient Civilizations and Historical Eras,' by Scarecrow Press.

Dr. Citino will spend the 2008-09 academic year as the Charles Boal Ewing Visiting Professor at the US MIlitary Academy at West Point, NY.  This one-year appointment is offered each year to a distinguished military historian.

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