Undergraduate Studies
Why study history?
Students (or their parents) often ask: what good is a history major? There are great practical reasons to make history the centerpiece of your Mississippi State University education. Our history majors learn skills that are valuable in almost any career: to study history means learning how to conduct research, how to collect and make sense of large amounts of information, how to think analytically and form persuasive arguments, and how to write clearly.
Even more importantly, history is the language in which you must be literate in order to understand any human culture, including your own. The past is the laboratory in which we analyze the human condition, the only “experiment” we have to refer to. We live in a world constructed out of the decisions of previous generations; recognizing how those choices were made in the past is an essential first step to making informed choices in the present.
Last—but not least—you should study history because you want to. If you value the stories that make up the human experience, and if you want to learn how to take part in telling those stories, then the history major is the right one for you.
Careers for history majors:
History majors at Mississippi State enjoy a broad range of career opportunities. Many of our majors pursue careers in teaching, public history, or historic preservation. These students go on to history or education graduate programs, or pursue degrees in library science and archival studies, anthropology, or related fields.
But these are just a fraction of the ways that our majors might choose to apply the critical thinking and writing skills they learn in history courses at Mississippi State. Our majors also attend law school, pursue careers in public policy, and work in the public health field. Other recent graduates have entered the U.S. Marshal Service, managed small businesses, entered the ministry, or attended medical school. A history major doesn’t limit the paths that you can follow after you graduate; it adds to your chosen career the wealth of human perspective, research and analytical skills, and writing craft that the study of history imparts.
Graduation requirements for the history major
As with all degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences, history majors must complete 124 semester hours, at least the last 31 of which must be taken at Mississippi State University. Students must also pass 31 hours of upper-level Mississippi State University courses taken from departments in the College of Arts and Sciences (including History). All history majors must have a 2.0 overall GPA and a 2.5 GPA in history courses in order to graduate.
History majors must also fulfill all of the following requirements in order to graduate.
- Both halves of two of the following core sequences (for a total of 12 hours)
- United States History (HI 1063 and HI 1073)
- Western History (HI 1213 and HI 1223)
- World History (HI 1163 and HI 1173)
- East Asian History (HI 1313 and HI 1323)
- History of Science and Technology (HI 1003 and HI 1013)
- 24 hours in upper-level (3000- or 4000-level) History courses. This includes 6 hours in each of three categories of classes, and an additional 6 hours beyond those. (See below for a description of the categories and the courses listed for each.
- HI 3903, Historiography and Historical Methods, which fulfills the Junior/Senior Writing requirement
- 6 hours in English Composition (or equivalent credit)
- 3 hours of Public Speaking
- A third-semester foreign language class, or the equivalent by examination. (Most students will take 9 hours of coursework for this requirement.)
- 6 hours of mathematics, generally MA 1313 (College Algebra) and either MA 1323 (Trigonometry) or MA 2113 (Statistics)
- 9-11 hours of Natural Science, including
- 3-4 hours of a physical science with lab
- 3-4 hours of a biological science with lab
- 3 hours of elective science
- 3 hours of literature from the English Department
- 3 hours of an introductory Philosophy course
- 3 hours of additional study in humanities departments outside of History
- 18 hours of social science credits, comprising six courses from at least four different departments, and counting no more than 6 hours from any one department.
- 3 hours of qualifying Fine Arts courses
- 2-3 hours of qualifying Computer Literacy courses.
Please contact Dr. Matthew Lavine, the Undergraduate Coordinator for the History Department, for more information about these requirements, or to declare a history major.
The History Minor
Students who wish to earn a minor in history must take a minimum of 18 hours of history, including both halves of a core sequence (HI 1063/1073, HI 1163/1173, HI 1213/1223, HI 1313/1323, or HI 1003/1013) and at least 12 hours in courses numbered 3000 or higher, at least 3 hours of which must be in courses numbered 4000 or higher.
Scholarships and Awards
The History Department offers several undergraduate scholarships, including the Bettersworth-Moore Award available to rising juniors or seniors, and the Whittaker-DeSantis Award for African-American students. There is also an annual prize for best undergraduate paper, and a prize in support of majors who intend to pursue graduate study in history.
All Mississippi State University students who have taken at least 12 hours in history and maintained a 3.1 GPA in those classes, as well as a 3.0 GPA overall, are eligible to be inducted into our chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honors society. Please contact Dr. Courtney Thompson for more information.
Categories of Upper-Level History Courses
The undergraduate history major is designed to encourage students to take a wide variety of courses. As noted above, majors must take at least two courses (6 hours) in each of the following categories:
CATEGORY I – thematic courses and world history
- HI 3013 – African-American History to 1865
- HI 3183 – World Environmental History
- HI 3363 – American History of Transportation
- HI 3613 – History of the Life Sciences
- HI 3813 – History of Modern Latin America
- HI 3853 – The United States and Latin America
- HI 3893 – Twentieth Century World History
- HI 4000 – Directed Individual Study (category depends on topic)
- HI 4193 – United States Environmental History
- HI 4273 – Women in American History
- HI 4283 – History of Southern Women
- HI 4293 – History of Gender and Science
- HI 4333 – Native American History to 1830
- HI 4363 – Afro-American History and Culture
- HI 4373 – History of the Modern Civil Rights Movement
- HI 4383 – Native American History since 1830
- HI 4303 – Ancient Near East
- HI 4553 – History of Science and Technology to the Scientific Revolution
- HI 4563 – Vietnam Revolution and War
- HI 4583 – China since 1800
- HI 4783 – African Civilization
- HI 4793 – Modern Africa
- HI 4833 – Colonial Latin America
- HI 4843 – Latin American Republics
- HI 4853 – Modern Mexico
- HI 4903 – History of the Far East
- HI 4983 – African-Americans and the Law
- HI 4990 – Special Topic in History (category depends on topic)
CATEGORY II – European history
- HI 3703 – Western Church to 1600
- HI 3743 – History Of England
- HI 3763 – Hitler And Nazi Germany
- HI 3773 – The Holocaust
- HI 3783 – Modern European Imperialism
- HI 4000 – Directed Indivual Study (category depends on topic)
- HI 4213 – Grand Strategy and International Security
- HI 4223 – Twentieth Century Intelligence Gathering
- HI 4413 – Ancient Greece and Rome
- HI 4603 – Medieval Civil History
- HI 4613 – History of the Soviet Union
- HI 4643 – Renaissance and Reformation
- HI 4673 – Europe 1789-1914
- HI 4683 – Europe WWI to Hitler
- HI 4693 – Europe WWII to the Common Market
- HI 4703 – England to 1485
- HI 4713 – Tudor and Stuart England
- HI 4723 – Britain Since 1688
- HI 4743 – Evolution of International Politics
- HI 4753 – History of Russia
- HI 4763 – History of Modern Germany
- HI 4773 – History of Modern France
- HI 4990 – Special Topic in History (category depends on topic)
CATEGORY III – American history
- HI 3133 – History of US Popular Culture
- HI 3333 – Mississippi History
- HI 3363 – American History of Transportation
- HI 4000 – Directed Individual Study (category depends on topic)
- HI 4103 – Colonial America
- HI 4113 – US History, 1783-1825
- HI 4123 – Jacksonian America, 1825-1850
- HI 4133 – Civil War, 1850-1877
- HI 4143 – Revolutionary America
- HI 4153 – US History, 1877-1917
- HI 4163 – US History, 1917-1945
- HI 4173 – US History since 1945
- HI 4183 – US Economic History
- HI 4203 – Diplomatic History of the US
- HI 4233 – American Military History
- HI 4243 – American Life & Thought
- HI 4253 – Religion In America
- HI 4263 – America's Vietnam War
- HI 4303 – The Old South
- HI 4313 – The New South
- HI 4323 – History of the American West
- HI 4393 – Rural History
- HI 4493 – Greek Comedy and Tragedy
- HI 4883 – US History of Medicine
- HI 4990 – Special Topic in History (category depends on topic)