Post by Dr. Cody Woodson on Nov 3, 2012 15:04:36 GMT -5
Office of: Dr. Cody Woodson
Office #: 101
Department: History
Class Hours: M-F 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM; 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Office Hours: M-F 7:30 AM -5:00 PM / Appointments for Individual Study must be made 24 hours in advance /Group Study will be announced
Courses Taught:
- HIST 101D US History, 1492-1865 credit 1.5
- HIST 102D US History, 1865-Present credit 1.5
- HIST 481 Feast, Fast, Famine credit 1.5
- HIST 493 Individual Study credit 2.5
- HIST 490 Senior Seminar credit 3.5
EXPLANATION OF COURSES:
HIST 101D United States History, 1492-1865[/color]
Credit: 1.5
This course is a thematic survey of United States history from European conquest through the Civil War. Through lectures, discussions, and readings, students will examine the nation's colonial origin, the impact of European conquest on the native peoples, the struggle for national independence, and the formation of a national government. The second half of the course will focus on the making of a modern democratic nation. Topics will include the expansion of the market economy, chattel slavery, and the factory system. The course will also examine early urbanization, the rise of egalitarianism, westward expansion, the Second Great Awakening, the first women's movements, and the abolition of slavery. The course concludes with an account of the Civil War and the Lincoln administration. Fulfills history major and minor history requirements.
HIST 102D United States History, 1865-Present[/color]
Credit: 1.5
This course is a thematic survey of the United States from the end of the Civil War to the present. Students will examine the transformation of the United States from a rural, largely Protestant society into a powerful and culturally diverse, urban/industrial nation. Topics will include constitutional developments, the formation of a national economy, urbanization, and immigration. The course will also discuss political changes, the secularization of the public culture, the formation of the welfare state, World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War as well as suburbanization, the civil rights movement, women's and gay rights, and the late twentieth-century conservative-politics movement and religious revival. Fulfills history major and minor history requirements.
HIST 481 Feast, Fast, Famine[/color]
Credit: 1.5
The course explores the cultural, economic, and ecological significance of food in premodern societies. Food serves as a shuttle between the concrete (what do you need to grow an olive?) and the symbolic (what does the Eucharist mean?). Cathy Bowen's work on the religious significance of food to medieval women is one example of the sort of reading that will be included. We will also explore the ways in which the great famine of the fourteenth century altered European social and political structures, how the increased cultivation of legumes fueled economic and demographic expansions (European crusaders were quite literally full of beans), and how leaders used feasting as a political tool. Dietary practices were also markers of religious and ethnic identity. The earliest Christians were, for example, unsure of whether they were still bound by Jewish dietary laws. When Romans disparaged their northern neighbors, one of the most effective ways to express their contempt was to describe how barbarians used animal fat (rather than olive oil) and drank ale (rather than wine). Fulfills history major and minor history requirements.
HIST 493 Individual Study[/color]
Credit: 2.5
Individual study is available to students who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a focused research project on a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum. This option is restricted to history majors and cannot normally be used to fulfill distribution requirements within the major. To qualify, a student must prepare a proposal in consultation with a member of the history faculty who has suitable expertise and is willing to work with the student over the course of a semester. The two- to three-page proposal should include: a statement of the questions to be explored, a preliminary bibliography, a schedule of assignments, a schedule of meetings with the supervising faculty member, and a description of grading criteria. The student should also briefly describe prior coursework that particularly qualifies him or her to pursue the project independently. The department chair must approve the proposal. The student should meet regularly with the instructor for at least the equivalent of one hour per week. At a minimum, the amount of work submitted for a grade should approximate that required, on average, in 300- or 400-level history courses. Individual projects will vary, but students should probably plan to read 200 pages or more a week and to write at least thirty pages over the course of the semester. Students are urged to begin discussion of their proposals with the supervising faculty member and the department chair the semester before they hope to undertake the project. The department chair must receive proposals by the third day of classes.
HIST 490 Senior Seminar[/color]
Credit: 3.5
The goal of this course is to give each history major the experience of a sustained, independent research project, including: formulating a historical question, considering methods, devising a research strategy, locating and critically evaluating primary and secondary sources, placing evidence in context, shaping an interpretation, and presenting documented results. Research topics will be selected by students in consultation with the instructor. Classes will involve student presentations on various stages of their work and mutual critiques, as well as discussions of issues of common interest, such as methods and bibliography. This seminar is open only to senior history majors. Prerequisite: HIST 387. Fulfills history major senior research seminar requirement.