Student Success

Your success is important to us, so we've given you some information to help make the most out of your education at UMass Dartmouth. 

Goals for student learning

Content

• A broad familiarity with the basic chronology and major themes of either Western Civilization or World History.
• A deeper knowledge of aspects of the history of three major regions of the world: the United States, Europe, and either Asia, Africa or Latin America.

Collection

• The ability to collect historical data in printed and electronic forms.
• The Ability to use bibliographic tools and data bases.

Analysis

• The ability to identify chronological and geographical patterns, identify issues and problems in the past, formulate historical questions, interrogate historical data and sources, support interpretations with historical evidence and evaluate major debates among historians.

Synthesis

• The ability to write historical arguments in essay exams and papers.
• The ability to research and write a substantial and original long seminar paper on an historical subject.
• The ability to present a formal presentation of an historical argument researched and organized by the student.

Language skills

• The ability to construct coherent and persuasive arguments in written and oral forms.
• The ability to read a foreign language at the intermediate level

Honor Society

The department offers an Honors Program for senior history majors with a 3.2 cumulative average. In this program students write a research paper under the direction of a faculty member of their choice. For details of this program, students should consult their advisors and the Honors Program.

Students with a minimum GPA of 3.2 are eligible for nomination to the university’s Alpha Eta Theta Chapter of the International History Honor Society, Phi Alpha Theta.