Why Study History at MCLA?

History is not simply the memorization of names and dates. Rather, we study the past so that we understand our world better, whether in terms of global dynamics or our own personal experiences. Studying history allows us to engage with topics as large as the development of past societies and as intimate as the everyday lives of ordinary people; in pursuing these topics, we broaden our understanding of life beyond our personal viewpoint.

When you engage with these questions and pursue the study of history, you gain skills and knowledge that provide you with the tools to succeed in the classroom and beyond. You emerge from college with assets employers are looking for: the ability to find information, think clearly, analyze ideas and evidence, and, perhaps most importantly, to communicate clearly both in speech and in writing.

If you choose to study history at MCLA, you will benefit from unique strengths and opportunities. Some of the most important are listed below.

Faculty

The history professors at MCLA combine dedication to their teaching with engagement in the world of research and scholarship. One faculty member will serve as your advisor, working with you each semester to choose your classes and guide you towards your degree. You will study in small classes (the average class size is 18) taught by professors, not teaching assistants. You will have the chance to know your professors personally, providing you with opportunities not easily available at larger institutions. For an example of how one MCLA history professor combines her interests in scholarship, teaching, and the local community, see the web site for The Shaping Role of Place, co-directed by Dr. Frances Jones-Sneed.

Special Learning Opportunities

The college experience involves more than learning in the classroom. History professors at MCLA lead regular Travel Courses to foreign destinations, allowing you the opportunity to experience first-hand the places you have only read about. These trips earn you three credits towards your degree, but they will also give you experiences you will likely never forget. In spring 2007, the department chair took students to China; in March 2008 history professors travelled with students to France and Japan.

The department also encourages students to experience unique learning opportunities closer to home. MCLA has a rich Local History collection, and you can immerse yourself in the history of North Adams and the Berkshires. This is a rare opportunity to use documents and artifacts from fifty or one hundred years ago to better understand the forces that shaped modern Massachusetts. Another example of hands-on opportunities is the department's growing Political Science program's links to politics in the Berkshires on the local and state levels. Several MCLA professors are active in local politics, and MCLA students have interned with elected representatives. Click here for an article on Deval Patrick's campaign visit to MCLA in 2007.

Combine Your History Major with Teaching Certification

Students majoring in history may opt to pursue initial licensure as an early childhood, elementary, middle school, or high school teacher. Also, history majors may pursue initial licensure as a teacher of history or as a teacher of political science/political philosophy for the middle school and secondary levels. Students seeking initial licensure must complete the history major and a licensure program in education in one of the aforementioned areas of teacher licensure.

Information and Technology

Finding and analyzing information is central to studying history, and you will learn to do independent research as a history major. Many of our students have presented their work at research conferences, such as the college-wide MCLA Undergraduate Research Conference and the regional conference of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society.

How we find and present information has been transformed in many ways by the new technologies of recent decades, and MCLA offers you the opportunity to benefit from these changes. Through the Freel Library you can use electronic resources such as databases of images, newspapers, and journal articles; you can reach these resources from anywhere with internet access, including our campus, which is equipped with wireless connectivity.

Online catalogs give you the ability to search for books across central and western Massachusetts libraries and have them delivered to you at MCLA. More and more websites allow you to view the images and words of past years for yourself--and draw your own conclusions; see our Resources page for some excellent history websites. In the classroom, you might be discussing a web site projected on-screen or viewing streaming video clips. Technology might not be the first thing that comes to mind when history is mentioned, but it is an indispensable part of the modern historian's training, and you will benefit from the technological possibilities at MCLA.