Mission

The Bachelor of Arts in History 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 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 acquainting students 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, cultivates character and perspective, illuminates context, and refines the 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.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the B.A. in History, students should be able to

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.

Curriculum

For a B.A. in History, a student must complete a total of 92 credits, as per the following:

• Program Requirements (42 cr)
• LAC Core Courses (13 cr)
• LAC Elective Courses(21 cr)
• Free Electives (16 cr)

HST205 Historical Tools (3 cr) is a prerequisite for all history majors.

Program Requirements (42 cr)

Four required courses (12 cr)

• HST205 Historical Tools (3 cr)
• HST231 From the Imarah to the 1975-1990 War (3 cr)
• HST401 Special Topics (3 cr)
• HST499 Senior Study (3 cr)

One course from the following (3 cr)

• HST220 Pre-History to Pericles (3 cr)
• HST221 Greece and Rome (3 cr)

One course from the following (3 cr)

• HST240 History of the Arab Peoples (3 cr)
• HST241 History of Islam in the Middle East (3 cr)

One course from the following (3 cr) other than the course chosen in the above section

• HST240 History of the Arab Peoples (3 cr)
• HST241 History of Islam in the Middle East (3 cr)
• HST242 Europe and the Middle East (3 cr)
• HST243 Economic History of the Middle East (3 cr)
• HST244 History of Arab-Israeli Conflict (3 cr)

Two courses from the following (6 cr)

• HST301 Europe in Late Antiquity (3 cr)
• HST302 Medieval Europe (3 cr)
• HST303 Early Modern Europe (3 cr)
• HST304 Modern Europe (3 cr)
• HST305 Contemporary Europe (3 cr)

Three courses from the following (9 cr)

• 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)

Two courses from the following (6 cr)

• 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)

Recommended Study Plan

Year One

Fall (16 cr)

• HST205 Historical Tools - required
• HST221 Greece and Rome
• ENG202 Advanced Academic English
• LAC Social Science
• CSC201 Computer Applications
• ARAxxx

Spring (16 cr)

• HST231 Lebanon Imarah to 1975-90 War - required
• HST240 History of Arab Peoples
• ENG203 Fundamentals of Oral Communication
• LAC Science
• LAC Literature
• HLT201 Basic Health

Year Two

Fall ( 14 cr)

• HST242 Europe and the Middle East
• HST302 Medieval Europe
• LAC Social Science
• ETH201 Moral Reasoning
• PEDxxx
• Free Elective (3 cr)

Spring (15 cr)

• HST331 History of Russia
• HST303 Early Modern Europe
• HST340 Topics in History of Ideas
• LAC Arts
• Free Electives (3 cr)

Year Three

Fall (15 cr)

• HST330 History of Byzantium
• HST401 Special Topics - required
• LAC Literature
• Free Electives (3 cr)
• Free Electives (3 cr)

Spring (16 cr)

• HST334 History of North America
• HST342 Topics in the History of Religion
• HST499 Senior Study (required)
• LAC Arts
• Free Electives (4 cr)

Note that all History courses unmarked as required can be replaced by other courses as found on the Contract Sheet.