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Program Overview

Learn about other times and places through documents, objects, pictures and sounds that generations have left behind.

The central purpose of the history curriculum at Agnes Scott is to give students who come from a variety of cultural traditions an understanding of the development of values, institutions, and social structures during short and long periods of time.

By offering courses on different regions of the world and on different eras in history, and by emphasizing diversity within cultures, history courses seek to deepen each student’s understanding of human experience in its multiple facets. By challenging students to learn about people who are different, history teaches open-mindedness and respect for differences. The study of history provides a perspective from which to assess events of the present and prospects for the future.

A history major student leans forward and listens in class.

What You'll Learn

As you investigate and analyze history, you'll strengthen your skills as a reader, writer, speaker, critical thinker and researcher. You'll learn:

  • How to find, evaluate and utilize primary and secondary historical sources
  • The ability to develop and articulate persuasive arguments
  • How to apply knowledge and critical interpretation of the past to an understanding of one’s own identity and cultural background, as well as to the identities and backgrounds of others

Program Highlights

Learn through Lively Classroom Discussions

History students are required to read widely, to think critically and to strengthen their skills in research, writing and speaking. They learn to organize and analyze textual, visual, and oral sources while honing their ability both to tell a story and to develop an argument. History provides a framework and a context for insights from other disciplines and in this sense is one of the foundation disciplines of a liberal education, supplying coherence and continuity to information that might otherwise be fragmented and disjointed.

Gain a Global Perspective

The History faculty bring an international perspective to their work and have led student trips to such destinations as Ghana, Germany, Poland, Gambia, France and Switzerland. In addition, History majors often study abroad at foreign universities. In recent years, our students have enrolled in programs in China, Sweden, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, France, Malta, Turkey, Belgium, Romania, Morocco, Thailand and Great Britain.

Get Involved and Become a Leader

Agnes Scott history students also have ample opportunities to pursue mentored research and experiential learning. Resources in Atlanta enable history majors to undertake research in archives and specialized collections and to participate in internships in historic preservation, museums, libraries, business, government agencies and nonprofit organizations. As part of the History major, each senior will produce a work of original scholarship on a topic of their own choosing.

Meet the Faculty

Reem Bailony

Reem Bailony

Assistant Professor of History

Kristian Blaich

Visiting Assistant Professor of History

Mary Cain

Mary C. Cain

Associate Professor of History

Yael Manes

Yael Manes

Associate Professor of History

Robin Morris

Robin Morris

Associate Professor of History

Shu-chin Wu

Associate Professor of History

Working in History

The skills students learn in history—writing, analytical thinking, speaking, research—prepare them for success in numerous fields.

History majors pursue careers in an almost infinite variety of fields. History is an especially desirable background for further study in law, library science, journalism and public affairs. More directly associated with the discipline are careers in teaching, museum work, historic preservation and information technology, but many majors also pursue careers in business or social services.

  • Paralegal
  • Research Assistant
  • Development Associate
  • Grant Writer
  • Archival Assistant
  • Museum Educator

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