Declaring a Major/Advising
Students should make an appointment with an advisor at the Pre-major Center, where a long-range plan will be completed. These plans will then be approved by a dean, and all materials and information on the student will be sent to the History Department. If a student has already declared a major in another department and wishes to change or add history as a second major, he/she must go to the Registrar's Office in the Allen Building and complete the necessary paperwork. A history advisor will be assigned upon completion of an advisor request form. Please contact Vanessa Jackson for a copy of this form or visit our website at http://www-history.aas.duke.edu. (See History Majors' Meetings below.)
History Majors' Meetings
These meetings are held twice a year following fall and spring breaks and before registration for the next semester. History majors should NOT miss this meeting, where last-minute departmental changes will be announced, and they will have the opportunity to meet history professors, hear descriptions of their upcoming courses, and also receive information not readily available at any other time. Handouts at the meeting include lists of available advisors and their current phone numbers, and e-mails, course schedules for the next two semesters, course descriptions, and the current history handbook. Sign-up sheets will be available for students' requests for materials and advisors. A fast-track advising table will be set up for first majors, where they will be able to pick up their pin numbers providing their advisement reports have been cleared through the office of the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
History Honor Society
Working with the DUS in 1998, a group of history majors began the process of establishing a Duke Chapter of the national history honor society Phi Alpha Theta. The official installation ceremony was held on March 5, 2003, where a group of 34 students were inducted as its first members. The Charter and Greek symbol can be viewed in room 229 of the Carr building. Undergraduate history majors who meet three minimum conditions may apply for membership: 1) four or more courses in history; 2) they must maintain an overall average of 3.7; and 3) they must be ranked in the top third of their class.
Membership in the national History Honor Society offers a means of formally recognizing student achievement in the study of history that can be duly noted on student résumés. In addition, Phi Alpha Theta participation adds an extra-curricular dimension to its members’ history education at Duke. It not only helps create ties among motivated history majors but also promotes closer relations between students and members of the faculty.
The History Major
The history major has two basic objectives. First, it offers students broad exposure to the histories of our own and other societies, to the recent and the more distant past, and to the variety of approaches to the study of history. Second, it allows study in depth of the history of a particular time and place, a particular people, or a particular type of history. The goal of breadth of exposure is addressed in the distribution requirements for course work across three geographic areas and in pre-modern as well as modern history. Depth of concentration is achieved through the requirement that students choose a primary field of study.
Many students combine a major in History with majors or certificates in other programs, such as African and Afro-American Studies, Comparative Area Studies, Judaic Studies, Latin American Studies, or Women's Studies. Many students also enrich their History Major with study abroad, through the Office of Foreign Academic Programs.
Major Requirements: 10 history courses, at least eight of which must be at or above the 100 level. One Advanced Placement credit may count toward meeting the ten-course history requirement. The 10 courses are to be distributed as follows:
1. Areas of History. One course each in ANY THREE of the four geographic OR thematic areas listed below; two courses in the pre-modern era (see pre-1800 courses).
2. Primary Field. At least four courses in the student's primary field of history. A primary field may be chosen from any geographic or thematic area. Students may propose other thematic areas, and seek approval from the director of undergraduate studies and the student's history advisor. One course below the 100 level may be counted toward the student's primary field; primary-field courses may count toward meeting the area and pre-modern distribution requirements.
3. Research Requirements. Each major must take at least two research seminars (History 195S, History 196S, History 191, History 192, or 200-level courses). Substitution of other seminars must be approved by the director of undergraduate studies and the course instructor. One research course must be an upper-level research seminar in the student's primary field.
New Majors Seminar:
Majors are encouraged, but not required, to take a seminar especially designed for new majors in history. The new major seminars explore how historians recreate the past; new majors develop analytical, research, and writing skills useful in further history courses and in each student's life-journey.
Geographic Areas: 1) United States and Canada (USC); 2) Europe and Russia (EUR); 3) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC); 4) Africa, Middle East, Asia (AMEA). In case of global or comparative courses, consult the history major's handbook or contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies.
Thematic Areas include: 1) History of Medicines, Science, and Technology; 2) Military History; 3) History of Women and Gender; 4) African Diaspora.
Transfer Credit: At least eight of the 10 courses required for the history major must be taken at Duke. Students transferring to Duke from other schools can petition the director of undergraduate studies for recognition of some or all of their previous history course work.
The Duke history department sets a relatively high standard in evaluating whether college-level courses completed at other institutions are acceptable as equivalent to courses taken in our department. Approval is not automatic, however, and will be awarded only on a case-by-case basis. In no case will the department approve Duke credit for courses taken at community colleges.