Department of History and Philosophy
Strategic Planning Draft
May 2007
The Department of History and Philosophy currently includes six tenured or
tenure-track faculty in history and one fulltime philosopher with two adjuncts working
part-time in philosophy. The Department offers majors both in the liberal arts and in
Broad Field Social Studies—History Emphasis, as well as a History Major with a
Philosophy Emphasis. We have approximately two hundred majors. After years of
depending upon adjunct faculty, we now can plan more meaningfully for the future with
full staffing. In the last few years the Department has been developing courses to reflect
the university’s mission of internationalizing the curriculum and integrating diverse
perspectives into the College of Arts and Sciences. We also revised our major and minor
requirements to reflect our mission statement and external recommendations. In addition,
we have expanded the Study Abroad Programs with the addition of two new staff
members. The introduction of a new major, History Major with a Philosophy Emphasis,
was intended to broaden interest and draw upon the two disciplines in the Department.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Department of History and Philosophy is to generate, cultivate
and transmit knowledge and understanding of history and philosophy.
The mission of the History Program is to generate, cultivate and transmit
knowledge and understanding of history.
Vision Statement
1. The Department seeks to provide introductory historical knowledge for students
in most temporal and geographic regions of the world;
2. to provide a curriculum that addresses the globalization of our 21st century;
3. to offer courses that lead to competence in the historical field;
4. to cultivate a curriculum that fosters civic engagement and ethical citizenship;
5. to stimulate awareness of American cultural diversity;
6. to foster interdepartmental and inter-collegiate cooperation on campus;
7. to foster support for research and scholarship in the discipline of history;
Goals for the Near Future.
The Department has set the following goals for the immediate future:
Assess the restructuring of course offerings and the revisions of the major;
Integrate the overseas experience more fully into the history curriculum;
Increase course offerings to cover all geographic and temporal reaches, especially
increase offerings in European history;
Seek to launch the History Major with a Philosophy Emphasis—by promoting
this more actively on campus;
Promote the liberal arts history major as a vital program for preparing students as
citizens in a democracy in the twenty-first century, especially non-education
students and those seeking a liberal arts education.
Mission and Vision Statements were drafted and agreed upon October 27th, 2006 at a
department meeting. Goals for the Near Future were drafted at the Department meeting
on April 27th, 2007
Submitted by
Betty Bergland, Chair
Department of History and Philosophy
May 1st, 2007