Mission

The history program at LAU aims to instill in students an in-depth appreciation of the past by exposing them to a global focus on both Eastern and Western civilizations through a consideration of the complex interactions across cultures over designated spans of time—interactions that collectively constitute the sum total of the human experience.

Learning about the past has the dual purpose of helping students to acquaint themselves with the accumulated wisdom of the ages, while at the same time allowing them to discern the errors of eras gone by in order to avoid repeating them. A proper and systematic grounding in history therefore becomes the sur­est way to form character, cultivate perspective, illuminate context, and refine an understanding of what it means to belong to the human family.

Program Objectives

The B.A. in History aims to:

1. Develop in students a healthy intellectual curiosity about other cultures as well as their own and how these have fared over the centuries;
2. Offer students a rich and wide selection of interpenetrating historical narratives with a view to having them discover those thematic threads with which they can most closely identify in order to help reveal to them who they are;
3. Nurture in students the love of reading and thinking critically about the past so as to better understand the present and plan intelligently for the future; and
4. Provide students with a sufficiently solid cultural background to enable them to pursue productive careers in any field by making it possible for them to refer with ease to meaningful and relevant precedents in order to uncover latent yet at times subtle connections between such precedents and complex current situations.

Program Outcomes

Graduates of the B.A. in History shall:

1. Possess a comparative perspective on leading historical events and personalities;
2. Understand the principal themes and arguments that have informed the weighty historical disputes and conflicts;
3. Be able to draw perceptive analogies between what happened in the past and what is occurring today, or what might unfold tomorrow;
4. Distinguish periods of gradual and steady progress from others of stag­nation, or even occasional regression;
5. Perfect the skill to converse maturely and influentially about matters of historical substance that continue to have a decisive bearing on our lives in the present; and
6. Appreciate the intricate and cumulative nature of positive human expe­rience over time in order to fathom the factors and decipher the purposes of change in the political, social, cultural, intellectual, and personal spheres of humankind’s grand overall story.

Admission Requirements

To enter the major, students must meet the general university requirements

Graduation Requirements

A total of 92 credits are required to graduate, based on:

Program Requirements

• HST205 / Historical Tools (3 credits) is a prerequisite for all history majors

Major Core Requirements (42 Credits):

Choose One of the following:

• HST220 / Pre-History to Pericles (3 cr.)
• HST221 / Greece and Rome (3 cr.)
• HST230 / From Antelias Man to the Ottoman Conquest (3 cr.)
• HST231 / From the Imarah to the 1975-1990 War (3 cr.)

Emphasis Requirements

Choose specified number of courses from each period (total of 24 credits).

Arab and Middle Eastern History

Choose two courses, including either HST240 or HST241:

• HST240 / History of the Arab Peoples Conquest of 1516 (3 cr.)
• HST241 / History of Islam in the Middle East (3 cr.)
• HST242 / Europe and the Middle East 1798-1945 (3 cr.)
• HST243 / Economic History of the Middle East (3 cr.)
• HST244 / History of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (3 credit)

European History

Choose any two courses:

• HST301 / Europe in Late antiquity 410-1066 (3 cr.)
• HST302 / Medieval Europe 1066-1453 (3 cr.)
• HST303 / Early modern Europe 1450-1750 (3 cr.)
• HST304 / Modern Europe 1750-1945 (3 cr.)
• HST305 / Contemporary Europe 1945-1989 (3 cr.)

World History

Choose any three courses:

• HST330 / History of Byzantium (3 cr.)
• HST331 / History of Russia (3 cr.)
• HST332 / History of China (3 cr.)
• HST333 / History of South Asia (3 cr.)
• HST334 / History of North America (3 cr.)
• HST335 / History of Central and South America (3 cr.)
• HST336 / History of Africa (3 cr.)

Thematic History

Choose any two courses:

• HST340 / Topics in the History of Ideas (3 cr.)
• HST341 / Topics in the History of Science (3 cr.)
• HST342 / Topics in the History of Religion (3 cr.)
• HST343 / Topics in Economic History (3 cr.)

Topics & Senior Study

Both are required:

• HST401 / Special Topics in History (3 cr.) to be decided by instructor
• HST499 / Senior Study (3 cr.)

Sample Study Plan

Year One

Fall: 16 credits

• HST205 / Historical Tools (prerequisite for all history courses)
• HST221 / Greece and Rome (required)
• ENG202 / Sophomore Rhetoric
• PHL201 / Ancient Philosophy
• LAC Arts (3 cr.)
• HLT201 / Basic Health 

Spring: 16 credits

• HST231 / Lebanon Imarah to 1975-90 War (required)
• HST240 / History of Arab Peoples (required)
• ENG203 / Fundamentals of Oral Communication
• ARA201 / Appreciation of Arabic Literature
• Social Science
• CSC201 / Computer Applications

Year Two

Fall: 15 credits

• HST242 / Europe and the Middle East
• HST302 / Medieval Europe (required)
• HST330 / History of Byzantium
• LAC Literature
• LAC Science
• PED101 / Physical education elective

Spring: 16 credits

• HST331 / History of Russia
• HST303 / Early Modern Europe
• HST340 / Topics in History of Ideas
• LAC Humanities Elective
• ETH201 / Moral Reasoning
• Free Elective

Year Three

Fall: 15 credits

• HST499 / Senior Study
• HST342 / Topics in History of Religion
• HST334 / History of North America
• ____Humanities
• ____Free Elective

Spring: 15 credits

• HST408 / Comparative Nationalisms
• Free Electives