Meet the History Faculty
Chicago History
A survey of the history of Chicago, focused primarily between the time of the city’s founding and the turn of the twentieth century. This class follows the scope of its text, City of the Century, by Donald L. Miller.
Geography
This course is a survey of the geography of the world and its related concepts: location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and regions. This course will examine the interrelationship between people and their geographic environments—physical, social, economic, political, demographic, and cultural. Students will be expected to learn basic place names and locations, understand the nature of geography, and comprehend geographic relationships.
American History
American History is a two-semester survey of American history from the age of exploration and discovery to the present. Solid reading and writing skills, along with the willingness to devote a considerable amount of time to homework and study, are necessary to succeed. Emphasis is placed on critical and evaluative thinking skills, essay writing, interpretation of original documents, and historiography. The course is designed to promote understanding of and hands-on experience with a main component of the study of history: the application of lessons learned from the past to current issues. This course will, in part, be an active-learning experience. Students will be required to participate in groups and complete hands-on analytical activities. It is designed to be challenging and will involve a considerable amount of reading, writing, analysis, and directed individual research.
American Government
American Government is a two-semester survey of American Government from the establishment of our constitutional republic to the present. The course is designed to promote understanding of and hands-on experience with a main component of the study of politics: the application of theory to real world examples. This course will be an active-learning experience. Students will be required to participate in groups and complete hands-on analytical activities. It is designed to be challenging and will involve a considerable amount of reading, writing, analysis, and directed individual research.
The course is designed to give students a chance to learn about their government and political behavior. Students will understand that levels of frustration and disagreement are characteristic of a free and pluralistic society; thus they will find ways to express themselves and persuade others appropriately. The course is designed to prepare students to become effective citizens. Effective citizens possess a clear understanding of government: its purposes, its processes, and its shortcomings. Effective citizens believe that willingness to question is a characteristic of critical thinking, and that positions that are examined and scrutinized are more successfully justified. Students will participate in individual and group projects surrounding a specific public policy issue to apply themes and debates in political science to analyze how the concepts manifest themselves in current policy debates.