All Courses
These are the courses I teach with some regularity (others have been retired or are in semi-retirement). Undergraduate course numbers
go up to 499; graduate courses are in the 500s and 600s. Descriptions follow.
Hist 220 History of American Business
Hist 285 Technology in Historical Perspective
Hist 296 Reseach Methods in History
Hist 301 Study of History
Hist 490 and 491 Senior Seminar I and II
Hist 585 Technology in Historical Perspective (graduate)
Hist 298 This is the special topics number; see below for recent special topics courses.
Course Descriptions:
These descriptions reflect the way I teach these courses; others on the faculty will teach them in different ways.
Hist 285 Technology in Historical Perspective
This course is required for engineering majors, typically in their pre-junior year (no freshmen), but other students are certainly welcome. It covers roughly 1800 to the present; themes include comparative developments in the United States and Europe (including Russia), government and technology, and culture and technology. The course has lectures, discussions, movies, and a few other bits and pieces. And, yes, you have to write a paper (5-6 pages); you also make a short documentary from your paper.
Hist 220 History of American Business
This is a lecture course that covers developments in the history of American business since 1800. Themes include small and big businesses, government and business, culture and business, transportation and communication, and others.
Hist 296 Research Methods in History
Sophomore history majors take this course (and try very hard to schedule it in your sophomore year); it is an introduction to the fundamentals of historical research. In the history curriculum, Hist 296, Hist 301, and Hist 490-491 (senior seminar) form a sequence of courses that gives students the practical and intellectual tools to carry out original research projects in the discipline. These three courses would be the worst ones to sleep through; you are not so much learning history as learning how to be historians.
Hist 301 Study of History
This is a required course for History & Politics majors that introduces students to the practice of history. This is not so much about particular topics in history as about the way professional historians construct their narratives of the past. Students will learn both research techniques and how interpretations of history have changed over time. This may also be your best opportunity at this university to learn about Snorri Sturluson.
Hist 490 and 491 Senior Seminar I and II: U.S. History in Comparative Perspective
This is another required course for history majors; it is the capstone course in which students produce an original work of history. Professors choose the topic of the seminar, and I have usually chosen U.S. History in Comparative Perspective. Within that broad category, students choose their own topics. The American side of the topic must involve primary research; the non-American side may rely on secondary sources. The fall term (490) centers on research techniques and identifying relevant source material, and students write the paper in the winter term (491). I reiterate that professors all teach these courses differently.
Hist 585 Technology in Historical Perspective (graduate)
This is a graduate reading and discussion seminar in which students begin to learn the field of history of technology in surveys both of subject matter and of approaches historians in the field have taken over time. Should an undergraduate student take this course? If you are an A student, at least a junior, and are willing and able to read a book a week, then go for it. Just be aware that the standards are higher and analytical demands more rigorous than the undergraduate version.
Hist 298 Transnational U.S. history (winter 2010)
"Transnational" history is all about borders--when do the matter? What kinds of borders are there? How have they changed over time? We'll ask these questions over different periods in American history. Topics will include immigration, trade, nationalism, globalization; we will look at the flow of people, goods, knowledge, and ideas. This is primarily a reading and discussion seminar; it includes a research paper. On some days students will need to bring computers to class.
Hist 298 Digital History: Civil War (fall 2009)
This course has two goals. First, students will research and write about the impact of the Civil War on Philadelphia. The Civil War project is part of a state-wide initiative led by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council to mark the 150th anniversary of the war's beginning (events to occur in April 2011). The second goal of the course is to explore the impact and opportunities of (new) media on the practice, production, and portrayal of history. In format, the course will center on historical research and writing but also have the very specific goal of students show off their historical work in some digital form.
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2006 Allen Rothwarf Award for Teaching Excellence
• the university-wide junior faculty teaching award