History

Introduction

Without knowledge of the past, we are, as one writer has phrased it, like victims of collective amnesia groping in the dark for our identity. History as a discipline is rooted in that fundamental human urge, curiosity. It confronts and weighs the relative significance of chance, inevitability and choice in the passage of time.

History is humanistic in its emphasis on the influence of ideas and values, its capacity to both instruct and entertain, and as interpretive literature. In its investigation of social processes, groups and institutions, and the examination of human motivation, it is a social science. It acts as a bridge among disciplines, borrowing from all and contributing a sense of context and sequence to the perception of actions and individuals.

The American historian Carl Becker wrote: “The value of history is, indeed, not scientific but moral: by liberalizing the mind, by deepening the sympathies, by fortifying the will, it enables us to control, not society, but ourselves — a much more important thing; it prepares us to live more humanely in the present and to meet rather than to foretell the future.”

Faculty

KEVIN A. LEONARD (1997) Chair and Professor. BA, Pomona College; MA, PhD, University of California-Davis.
SUSAN E. COSTANZO (1993) Associate Professor. BA, MA, PhD, Northwestern University.
CECILIA A. DANYSK (1996) Associate Professor. BA, Concordia University; MA, PhD, McGill University.
PETER D. DIEHL (1992) Associate Professor. BA, Yale University; MA, PhD, University of California-Los Angeles.
SUSAN AMANDA EURICH (1986) Professor. BA, Portland State University; MA, PhD, Emory University.
CHRISTOPHER C. FRIDAY (1992) Professor. BA, Lewis and Clark College; MA, PhD, University of California-Los Angeles.
STEVEN J. GARFINKLE (2001) Associate Professor. BA, Tufts University; MA, University of London; PhD, Columbia University.
LEONARD M. HELFGOTT (1970) Professor. BA, MA, PhD, University of Maryland.
LAURIE HOCHSTETLER (2006) Assistant Professor. BA, Johns Hopkins University; MA, PhD, University of Virginia.
RANDALL C. JIMERSON (1994) Professor. BA, Earlham College; MA, PhD, University of Michigan.
A. RICARDO LOPEZ (2008) Assistant Professor. BA, National University of Colombia; MA, PhD, University of Maryland, College Park.
GEORGE MARIZ (1970) Professor. BA, MA, PhD, University of Missouri.
JOHANN N. NEEM (2004) Associate Professor. BA, Brown University; MA, PhD, University of Virginia.
MART A. STEWART (1992) Professor. BA, Willamette University; MA, Portland State University; PhD, Emory University.
ROGER R. THOMPSON (2003) Associate Professor. BA, Stanford University; MA, PhD, Yale University.
DIANA E. WRIGHT (1997) Associate Professor. BA, MA, University of Michigan; PhD, University of Toronto.

Affiliated Faculty

KITTY FRIESEN, Archives and Records Management
ROBERT H. KIM, Professor. Educational Administration and Foundations.
ANTHONY KURTZ, Archivist/Records Management.
RUTH STEELE, Archivist, Center for the Pacific Northwest Studies.
MIDORI TAKAGI, Associate Professor. Fairhaven College.

Other Departmental Information

Mid-Program Checkpoint

A student seeking to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in history within a four-year time span should have completed at least three courses from Hist 103, 104, 111, 112, 113, 280, 281 or East 201 or 202 by the start of the junior year. Major omissions from this list will make it difficult or impossible to complete this degree within two additional years.

Graduate Study

For concentrations leading to the Master of Arts degree and for information concerning the archival training program, see the Graduate School section of this catalog.