History

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The Department of History offers courses in ancient, medieval and modern European history; in both North and Latin American history; in the history of Asia and in world history. Some of the department’s courses are chronological, some national or regional and some are thematic, with special strengths in gender, race and ethnicity, popular culture, medicine and urban history. The faculty is committed to continuous review and revision of the department curriculum, as student needs and professional emphases shift. Many departmental courses meet general education requirements and various programs for majors and non-majors are available. The department offers an honors program for qualified seniors. Honors programs are individually arranged through consultation with the honors director. Completion of an honors thesis is required. The Department of History offers the BA, a minor, and PhD in History; the BA in Law, History, and Culture; the BA in History and Social Science Education; the BA in Contemporary Latino and Latin American Studies, the minor in History, the minor in Resistance to Genocide and the minor in the History and Culture of Business.

Social Science Building 153
(213) 740-1657
FAX: (213) 740-6999
Email: history@dornsife.usc.edu
dornsife.usc.edu/hist
 

Chair: Karen Halttunen, PhD

Faculty

University Professor and Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature and Professor of English, Art History, and History: Leo Braudy, PhD

University Professor: Jacob Soll, PhD

Gordon L. MacDonald Chair in History and Professor of History and East Asian Languages and Cultures: Joan Piggott, PhD

Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History: Wolf Gruner, PhD

Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities, Linda and Harlan Martens Director of the Early Modern Studies Institute and Professor of History and Anthropology: Peter C. Mancall, PhD

Barbara Streisand Professor of Contemporary Gender Studies and Professor of History, Gender Studies and English: Alice Echols, PhD*

Myron and Marian Casden Directorship of the Casden Institute for the Study of Jewish Role in American Life and Professor of History: Steven Ross, PhD*

Professors: Lisa Bitel, PhD; William Deverell, PhD*; Philip J. Ethington, PhD; Richard W. Fox, PhD; Ariela Gross, PhD (Law); Karen Halttunen, PhD; Kyung Moon Hwang, PhD; Daniel Klerman, PhD (Law); Lon Kurashige, PhD; Paul Lerner, PhD*; Carolyn Malone, PhD (Art History); John Pollini, PhD (Art History); George J. Sanchez, PhD* (American Studies and Ethnicity); Vanessa Schwartz, PhD (Art History); Nayan Shah, PhD (American Studies and Ethnicity); Brett Sheehan, PhD*; David Sloane, PhD (Public Policy)

Associate Professors: Marjorie R. Becker, PhD; Bettine Birge, PhD (East Asian Languages and Cultures); Daniela Bleichmar, PhD (Art History); Christelle Fischer-Bovet, PhD (Classics); Jason Glenn, PhD; Joshua Goldstein, PhD; Sarah Gualtieri, PhD* (American Studies and Ethnicity); Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, PhD; Ramzi Rouighi, PhD (Middle East Studies); Francile Wilson, PhD (American Studies and Ethnicity)

Assistant Professors: Richard Antaramian, PhD; Maya Maskarienc, PhD; Ketaki Pant, PhD; Edgardo Perez Morales, PhD; Benjamin Uchiyama, PhD; Aro Velmet, PhD

Assistant Professor (Teaching): Lindsay O’Neill, PhD

Professor Emerita of History and John R. Hubbard Chair in British History Emerita: Judith Bennett, PhD*

Professor Emerita of History and John R. Hubbard Chair in British History Emerita: Cynthia Herrup, PhD

Professor Emerita and John R. Hubbard Chair Emerita in History: Carole Shammas, PhD

Emeritus Professors: Elinor A. Accampo, PhD; Lois W. Banner, PhD*; Gordon M. Berger, PhD; Roger Dingman, PhD; Charlotte Furth, PhD; Paul W. Knoll, PhD; Franklin D. Mitchell, PhD; D. Brendan Nagle, PhD; Edwin J. Perkins, PhD; Azade-Ayse Rorlich, PhD

Associate Professor Emeritus: Terry L. Seip, PhD*

*Recipient of university-wide or college teaching award.

Undergraduate Degrees

Advisement

The Department of History has one full-time staff adviser available to provide academic advisement, assist in the navigation of department and university requirements, review progress and future plans. Students interested in a major or minor in the department should contact the adviser to schedule a meeting. Faculty advisers are also available to offer guidance on pursuing the field of history both within and beyond USC. 

Honors Program for History (BA)

The department offers a two-semester honors program, in which qualified students spend their first semester in an honors track in an upper-division seminar or take  in their concentration. During the second semester, all honors students are required to take  in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her choosing under faculty direction. Contact the department honors director for further information. To graduate with honors, department majors must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 in their major course work and a B+ or higher in .

Honors Program for History and Social Science Education (BA)

The department offers a two-semester honors program, in which qualified students spend their first semester in an honors track in an upper-division seminar on  in their concentration. During the second semester, all honors students are required to take  in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her choosing under faculty direction. Contact the department honors director for further information. To graduate with honors, department majors must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 in their major course work. 

Honor Society

The department sponsors its own local chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Phi Alpha Theta provides opportunities for students to take their interest in history beyond the classroom and to cultivate their intellectual pursuits in a community setting.

Membership is open to history majors and other interested students with a 3.33 GPA in history courses and a 3.0 overall GPA. For more information contact the honors director.

Teaching Credential Requirements

Credential requirements in California and elsewhere are complex and changeable. Students interested in preparing for public school teaching should contact the Credentials Office, Rossier School of Education, and the undergraduate adviser, Department of History, for up-to-date information.

Interdisciplinary Minor in Early Modern Studies

This minor brings together the resources of the departments of English, History and Art History to study the literatures and cultures of Europe and the Americas from the late medieval period to 1800. For a complete listing of requirements, see .

Interdisciplinary Middle East Studies Minor

See the .

Interdisciplinary Race, Ethnicity and Politics Minor

See .

Interdisciplinary Russian Area Studies Minor

See .

Interdisciplinary Law and Society Minor

See .

Graduate Degrees

The graduate program in History offers a rigorous course of study that balances depth in particular fields with a broad, transnational, and interdisciplinary perspective. We train our students in historical methods, research, critical analysis of written and visual sources, historical writing, and historical pedagogy through intensive reading courses, seminars, and tutorials. This training culminates in the PhD dissertation, a significant scholarly and historiographical contribution to the study of a field. 

Admission Requirements

Prerequisites

An applicant should have an undergraduate degree or an MA degree in history or a related discipline. Promising students trained in other fields will also be considered.

Criteria

All applicants must take the general test of the Graduate Record Examinations. The subject test in history is not required. In addition, applicants must submit at least three letters of recommendation from college-level instructors and a sample of written work from a college-level history, social science or humanities course. This material should be submitted to the director of the graduate program for the Department of History.

Procedure

For complete information on the doctoral program, prospective applicants should address inquiries to Graduate Admission, Department of History, SOS 153, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0034. Information on the programs is also available online at dornsife.usc.edu/hist/doctoral-program/.

Degree Requirements

These degrees are under the jurisdiction of the Graduate School. Refer to the  section and  section of this catalogue for general regulations. All courses applied toward the degrees must be courses accepted by the Graduate School.

Advisement

Students should seek advice on their program of studies from the Director of Graduate Studies, a professor in their major field of study and other members of their qualifying exam committee.

Programs

Bachelor’s Degree

• •  History (BA)
• •  History and Social Science Education (BA)
• •  Law, History, and Culture (BA)

Minor

• •  History and Culture of Business Minor
• •  History Minor
• •  Resistance to Genocide Interdisciplinary Minor

Master’s Degree

• •  History (MA)

Doctoral Degree

• •  History (PhD)

Courses

Other Courses

• •  HIST 550 Studies in the History of Women, Gender and Sexuality
• •  HIST 554 Readings in Chicano/Latino History
• •  HIST 555 Studies in the American West
• •  HIST 560 Transpacific History
• •  HIST 561 Historiography of Colonial Mexico
• •  HIST 565 Studies in American International History
• •  HIST 566 Historical Scholarship on North America to 1800
• •  HIST 567 Historical Scholarship on 19th Century America
• •  HIST 568 Historical Scholarship on 20th and 21st Century America
• •  HIST 575 Studies in 19th Century United States History
• •  HIST 583 Studies in Urban History
• •  HIST 584 Seminar in American Social History
• •  HIST 585 Studies in 20th Century American History
• •  HIST 586 Studies in American Intellectual and Cultural History
• •  HIST 587 Studies in the Politics of American Popular Culture
• •  HIST 590 Directed Research
• •  HIST 591 Quantitative Historical Research
• •  HIST 592 Historiography
• •  HIST 593 The Art of Historical Writing
• •  HIST 594a Master’s Thesis
• •  HIST 594b Master’s Thesis
• •  HIST 594z Master’s Thesis
• •  HIST 595x Practicum in Teaching the Liberal Arts
• •  HIST 602 Seminar in Ancient History
• •  HIST 605 Seminar in Medieval European History
• •  HIST 608 Seminar on Premodern Europe
• •  HIST 610 Seminar in Early Modern European History
• •  HIST 615 Seminar in Modern European History
• •  HIST 617 Seminar in Russian History
• •  HIST 620 Research Seminar on Modern Visual Culture
• •  HIST 630 Seminar in Japanese History
• •  HIST 635 Seminar in Chinese History
• •  HIST 650 Seminar on Women’s and Family History
• •  HIST 655 Seminar in Western American History
• •  HIST 660 Research Seminar on Transpacific Studies
• •  HIST 670 Illness and Healing in the Modern World
• •  HIST 673 Seminar in Early North American History
• •  HIST 675 Seminar in 19th Century United States History
• •  HIST 680 Seminar in 20th Century United States History
• •  HIST 700 Historical Explanation and Research Design
• •  HIST 790 Research
• •  HIST 794a Doctoral Dissertation
• •  HIST 794b Doctoral Dissertation
• •  HIST 794c Doctoral Dissertation
• •  HIST 794d Doctoral Dissertation
• •  HIST 794z Doctoral Dissertation