History Department Self Study for Academic Program Review Chair’s Executive Summary Hugh Hudson

The departmental self study reveals that the Department of History is a research active unit with a strong commitment to excellence in instruction and professional service. History is a book-based discipline in which the research, writing, and publication time of a typical monograph averages seven years. From 2004 through 2006, tenure/tenure-track faculty in the Department published seven books, 25 book chapters, and 28 peer-reviewed articles. Counting the three books published in 2007, four of the six professors, three of the eight associate professors, and three of the nine assistant professors have produced single-authored books in the past four years. These works have been published by leading presses in the United States and Europe on topics ranging from the foundations of modern nationalism in the Caucasus, Europe, Egypt, Africa, and China, to economic development in the United States, Latin America, and Russia. Faculty research demonstrates the world context of European and United States history. The faculty’s emphasis in world, interdisciplinary, and cultural history has brought fresh perspectives to the study of political and intellectual history. In pursuit of this research, the departmental faculty have been awarded highly competitive grants to support faculty research abroad, and they have also attracted national, state, and local funding for public history and teacher education.

The Department takes pride in the fact that following the department’s own analysis of its undergraduate program, the history major was one of the first in the University to require majors to take a “gateway” course at the beginning of their studies within the major and a “capstone” senior research seminar at the end. Since 2004 the Department has seen a 16% increase in its majors from 385 to 456, stability in its masters programs, and a 17% increase in its Ph.D. program. At the undergraduate level, the two-year graduation rate for junior history majors has increased significantly, from 35% to 68% indicating that history majors are moving more quickly to completion of degree. The Department has expanded its offerings of upper-division classes to respond to demand from the increasing number of majors. In the past three years, core credit hour production has not only remained stable, but has in fact increased 9.5% from 17,341 to 18,978, upper-division production has increased 5.3% from 5,540 to 5,836, and graduate production increased 12% from 3,173 to 3,545. The Department has succeeded in placing undergraduate majors and MA students in top-tier graduate history programs.

Although for Ph.D. students the progress to degree remains problematic, our doctoral students who have completed their degree have succeed in being placed as ladder faculty in a variety of local and regional two- and four-year institutions (Georgia Perimeter College, Georgia Highlands College, Clark Atlanta, Middle Tennessee State University, as well as within our own Department) or have applied their scholarly training to careers outside the academy, gaining employment, for instance, in the Department of Defense. The students in the MHP program, who receive a professional degree preparing them for positions in a variety of public, private, and non-profit agencies and businesses, have accepted jobs in the city, state, and region. On average, the ten graduates annually have been placed in such agencies as the National Park Service, the General Services Administration, the Georgia Department of Transportation, and in such firms as Lord, Aeck, Sargent Architecture, and Moreland-Altobelli Engineering; and with non-profits like the Indiana Trust for Historic Preservation, the Atlanta History Center, and the Marietta Museum of History.

The Department has a national reputation for its programs in world history and in public history/historic preservation. The Department also continues to contribute to the development of teachers through its contributions to the College of Education’s successful TEEMS program.

The Department of History considers itself to be central to the programs of the University. In pursuit of the dual goals of excellence and distinctiveness in the context of liberal education the History Department’s mission is to help students acquire historical perspectives and knowledge for intellectual satisfaction, learn how to analyze and interpret information critically, enhance their understanding of the world around them, shape a meaningful life, participate in a democratic society, and – if desired – prepare for a career in history, including applied careers in public history/historic preservation. The Department’s targeted programs in teacher education, world history, and public history/historic preservation build on the competitive advantage of being in Atlanta and on “exposure to multiple viewpoints and the free exchange of ideas, an appreciation for diversity among peoples of the nation and around the globe.”