Saint Michael's College

"Remembering the Past is a Fundamental Human Activity."

In his account of the violent conflict between the Persian Empire and the Greek city-states, the ancient scholar Herodotus wrote that his purpose was "to preserve the memory of the past." He called the work his "researches" or "inquiries" — his historia. For Herodotus as well as for modern historians, history is the unraveling of the mysteries about the past. By studying what the past has left us to interpret, we come to understand our own diverse and complex identities in the present.

The History major at Saint Michael’s College stands out for several reasons, among which are the following: the personalized attention given to students by faculty, the small size of the upper level seminars that are capped at fifteen, and the capstone senior research thesis in which students work one-on-one with individual faculty members.

The Saint Michael's College Department of History has three primary goals: (1) to convey to the student a general knowledge of and appreciation for the diversity of human achievement in the past; (2) to assist the student to develop the skills necessary for the practice of independent historical research; and (3) to prepare the student for a rewarding post-graduate career by developing and enhancing his or her ability to think and write critically and clearly. After graduation, our majors have gone on to successful careers in law, primary and secondary school education, business, government, museum management, higher education on the university level, among many others.

To achieve these goals the department requires its majors to complete three sets of courses: introductory or survey courses, upper level seminars in a specialized area and a capstone course in which the student writes a senior thesis. The history major offers courses focusing on a variety of geographical regions: the United States, Latin America, Europe (Ancient through Modern) and East Asia.

To contact the Department of History:

View a complete list of faculty in the Department of History.

James Conley
Associate Professor of Classics

George Dameron
Professor of History

Amy Hennigan '10

John McCormick '11

Susan Ouellette
Professor of History

David Schulz '11

Douglas Slaybough
Professor of History

Historian of 20th Century Britain named assistant professor of history at Saint Michael's College

Saint Michael's students provide new insight on history in their senior research