Understanding and Interpretation
History is the world's greatest storytelling process. Gathering evidence from all the societies, cultures, and ideas that have ever existed, historians explore the relationships that connect our lives to the narrative of the past. Through these relationships between past and present, historians uncover the meaning that shapes our world and the stories of who we are. If you want to explore meaning, if you want to uncover the vital narratives that condition the present, then your home is in the History program.
At Olivet, History majors have the opportunity to integrate a Christ-centered appreciation of the peoples and stories of the past with cutting edge current scholarship. Our coursework grounds students in European, American, and Global fields of historical study while teaching the research and interpretive skills of the historian's task. Examples of student research include digitally curated museum exhibits, student built digital history websites, and original research papers based on primary source and archival material. Providing the skills that allow students to process a diverse field of human-centered information from all times, peoples, and places, the Bachelor of Arts in History opens the door to 21st century careers or post-graduate study.
