Department of History

Office: Dudley Moorhead Hall 134

Telephone: 408-924-5500

Professors
Glen Gendzel
Libra Hilde, Chair
Xiaojia Hou
Mary Pickering
Jonathan P. Roth
Wendy Rouse, Coordinator; Social Science Teacher Preparation

Associate Professors
Katharine Olson

Assistant Professors
Alberto Garcia

Jewish Studies Program Coordinator
Victoria Harrison, Lecturer

Overview

History provides the tools to understand the world and to make sense of it in the past, present, and future. The SJSU Department of History offers undergraduate and graduate programs that teach our students to read carefully, compare sources, make judgments, and communicate persuasively using evidence-based research. Graduates of our programs often become teachers, but most work in other fields such as law, journalism, the arts, museums, libraries, archives, media, non-profits, consulting, government, and every field of business. Internships are available and Phi Alpha Theta, the History honors society, sponsors academic and social activities for our students. The Social Science Teacher Preparation (SSTP) program helps prepare students for teaching careers. At the graduate level, our primary fields of study are U.S. history, European history, and World history. Many of our MA graduates teach at local middle schools, high schools, and community colleges. Our faculty and students conduct research that draws on the special resources of the MLK Library as well as outstanding local archives such as History San José, the California History Center at De Anza College, the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Honors Program in History

History and/or Social Science Teacher Preparation majors may qualify for admission to the History Department honors program after completing 15 upper division units in history. To apply to graduate with History departmental honors, the student must have an overall GPA of 3.0, a GPA of 3.5 for all History upper division courses, or the permission of the chair. If accepted, qualified seniors must complete one of the following: HIST 221 , HIST 230 , HIST 240 , HIST 241 , HIST 272 , HIST 274 , HIST 276 , HIST 280 , HIST 283 , or HIST 288 , with a grade “B” or higher.

Programs

Undergraduate Major(s)

Undergraduate Minor(s)

Master(s)

History, MA

Courses

History

Jewish Studies

Social Science

Social Science Education