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Academics History

History

The history major focuses on traditional regions, nations, and themes within American, European, and World history, providing students with a solid base of factual knowledge, the ability to logically interpret those facts, and the ability to communicate them.

Academics

  • In a world where men and women tend to change careers and jobs multiple times throughout life, history provides just the kind of education – one that develops transferable skills – that one needs. Trends in employment come and go. A history major provides a “trend-proof” education, empowering students with skills they can use for anything and apply to a lifetime of learning and professional growth.

    WLC’s history faculty have earned graduate degrees from top-level institutions and regularly present at conferences and publish books and articles. Our faculty members are teaching scholars who personally interact with students, get to know them, involve students in scholarship, and use their scholarship to enhance the student’s experience in the classroom.

    What Makes the Program Distinctive?

    All WLC history courses are taught from a Lutheran theological perspective. Instruction is shaped according to Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions – a focus virtually unique in American higher education. God reveals himself to us in history – salvation history for example – though his hand in historical events is often hidden from our understanding. While history often reveals the consequences of the fall into sin and shows God’s people bearing the cross, Christ’s atonement and the Gospel are at the heart of history. His people cling to Christ’s cross in the best and worst times of human history, always looking through faith in Christ to the world to come.

  • ACADEMICS AND RESEARCH

    Relevance and Academic Rigor

    Employers are interested in skills that can translate to and are essential for just about any profession. In fact, 93% of recently surveyed employers report that “a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than a candidate's undergraduate major.”

    A history major is academically challenging, but with dedication and discipline, provides students with exactly those skills that employers are looking for. History teaches one how to make an argument and support it with clear, specific, and well-documented facts gathered from the best available sources. History teaches students how to do research independently, and in fact requires them to do so throughout the major. History teaches students how to critically evaluate sources and information, rather than just accepting whatever facts appear. In this age of Google and Wikipedia, being able to critically evaluate sources and “facts” is especially crucial. History teaches students to organize this information and present it eloquently and precisely. What could be more essential to a whole host of careers than these fundamental skills which are not innate but learned through practice and hard work?

    BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

    Clubs and Organizations

    WLC's history faculty members support students with opportunities for fellowship in the Student History Association. They also recognize outstanding achievement through WLC's chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national honor society.

    Relevant Experiences and Internships

    The history program offers unique opportunities to enhance student success in gaining admittance to graduate programs and finding jobs. Students may serve as tutors for American and European survey classes and as research assistants for projects like the Fourth-Century Christianity website and Roman Roads project. Students have interned at such places as Old Sturbridge Village, a living museum in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, plus the Milwaukee area provides robust opportunities for relevant internships in a variety of fields.

    GRADUATE SCHOOL AND CAREERS

    Graduate School

    WLC's history program properly prepares students for success in graduate school. Several WLC history majors have pursued a graduate or law school education at such universities as Marquette University, the University of Chicago, and The Ohio State University.

    Careers

    The history program at Wisconsin Lutheran College prepares strong-minded Christian leaders capable of success in nearly any career. Past graduates are now working as teachers, content writers, sheriff deputies, nurses, financial advisers, curators, park managers, and lawyers. 

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