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ADVISING

The study of History serves to develop life-long learning skills.  These are the same skills in the areas of critical thinking, problem solving, and communication that employers search for when hiring.

Specifically, the History faculty have identified the following 7 outcomes that they would like to see all History majors graduate from our program with.

    1)    Students shall be able to demonstrate thinking skills by analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating historical information from multiple sources.   

    2)    Students will develop the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction while understanding that there is no one historical truth.

    3)    Students will produce well researched written work that engages with both primary sources and the secondary literature.

    4)    Students will develop an informed familiarity with multiple cultures.

    5)    Students will employ a full range of techniques and methods used to gain historical knowledge.

    6)    Students will develop an ability to convey verbally their historical knowledge.

    7)    Students will demonstrate their understanding of cause and effect along with their knowledge of the general chronology of human experience.

While we think that a History major will prepare students for just about any career track, the following websites from the American Historical Association offer information on some of the more commonly followed careers:
http://www.historians.org/pubs/Free/careers/Index.htm  and http://www.historians.org/pubs/careers/index.htm

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The following are questions that History majors often have regarding advising and their curricular requirements.  If you have a question that is not on this list, ask that it be included!

    1. I'm also majoring in Secondary Education (either Language Education or Social Studies Education.)  Do I need to fulfill the A&S Extended Core     Requirements?  Can my upper-division outside of major classes be in education, or do they need to be in an A&S discipline?
        A. If you wish to complete a dual major in Secondary Education and History then yes you must fulfill the A&S Extended Core Requirements.
                Your upper division, out side of major classes may indeed be from education. This is a great way to fulfill this requirement.
        B. Option: Something to consider would be to complete a History minor. You need 18 credit hours in history, 9 lower division hours and 9 division    hours.

    2.  Can my three outside of major upper division classes be outside the College of A&S?
         A. Yes!   

    3.  Can I take a class pass/not pass? (For example, A Spanish class that is above and beyond the foreign language requirement?)
         A.  No.

    4.  Does Hist 1010 (Encounters with Differences) count toward the lower division requirements of the History major?
        A. No, however it does fulfill the University Studies Program (USP) I - course requirement.

    5.  I've transferred in with some classes from another college, and I'm not getting credit for some specific classes that I think should count toward my major.
         How do I fix this?
         A.  There are two ways to handle this situation:
               1. If the course is a history course  then you may schedule an appointment with
               History Department Chair, Dr. Mark Potter, to review the course, and in turn he will contact the Office of the Registrar with his recommendation for  the course.
               2. If the course is not a history course then your petition needs to be reviewed by an advisor in the Office of the Registrar.  Dawn Carver in the Office of  the Registrar is the degree analyst for students within the College of Arts & Sciences.

    6.  Do I really need to take PEAC?
         A.  Unless you fall within the following two exceptions you must take PEAC.
               1. If you completed courses at the University of Wyoming before Fall 1999 and will be 25 yrs. of age or older by the time of your current graduation you may petition for an exception waiver.
               
                2. You have received an Associates Degree from a Wyoming Community College.   

    7.  Help! I've satisfied all my USP and History major requirements, but now I find out that I still have upper-division credit hour requirements that I need to fulfill
         before I graduate. Is there anything I can do?
         A.  The College of A&S requires completion of a minimum of 48 upper division courses! You will complete 21 hours of upper division in History plus 9 hours in upper division out of major courses equaling 30 hours. You are responsible for taking an additional 18 hours in upper division courses - you may take the courses in any academic area, they do not need to be College of A&S specific.

    8.  What are the different ways to fulfill the Constitution ("V") requirement?
          A.  1. Complete one of the following courses: Econ 1200: Economics, Law and Government, History 1211: United States History to 1865
                Hist 1221: United States History from 1865, Hist 1251: Wyoming History, or Pols 1000: American and Wyoming Government.
               
                2. Complete a corresponding Economics, History, or Political Science course at a Wyoming Community College.
               
                3. Complete an United States History or Political Science course at a Community College or University outside of Wyoming and take the 1.0 credit hour Wyoming Constitution exam through the University of Wyoming Testing Center.

    9.  The College of Arts & Sciences requires completion of 8.0 hours (2 semesters) of a single foreign language, is this what the History Department requires?
         A. No, the Department of History requires 12.0 hours (3 semesters) of a single foreign language.

    10. What Languages are offered at the University of Wyoming and what if I want to "test out" of a language or have completed one not offered at U.W.?
          A. 1. The Department of Modern and Classical Languages offer courses in Chinese, French, German, Greek, Japanese, Latin, Russian, and Spanish.
               They have added Arabic and Arapahoe to the listings of courses, however currently offer only 2 semesters of each course.
               Please contact the Department of Modern and Classical Languages with any questions.
              
               2. You may contact the Department of Modern and Classical Languages to set up an exam in a language other than what is offered, (Italian, Swedish...)The Dept. will contact another University to obtain a copy of the language exam that specific university utilizes for their students. You will take the exam on the University of Wyoming campus. Your exam will be graded by a language professor at the university which submitted the exam to UW. If you pass the exam you will be given appropriate credit for the course.
              
                3. If you completed language courses at a Community College or University you will receive full language requirement credit regardless of whether that specific language is offered at the University of Wyoming or not.