History

Bachelor’s Degree in History

Students must complete the general requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences and the required courses listed below.

(Note: These requirements took effect beginning with the 2011 summer term. Students who became history majors prior to that term may fall under previous major requirements and should consult one of the department’s undergraduate advisors to determine which requirements to follow.)

Total Hours. Students must complete 42 hours in history courses with grades of C- or better. Of those 42 hours, 24 must be at the upper division. Students should complete the required 1000-level survey courses, HIST 1800 and HIST 3020 before the end of their sophomore year and before they enroll in any 4000-level history classes.

Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours

Lower-division Requirements

• One 1000-level United States history course—3
• One 1000-level Europe history course—3
• One 1000-level world areas history course—3
• HIST 1800 Introduction to Global History—3

Upper-division Requirements

• HIST 3020 Historical Thinking and Writing—3
• One 4000-level United States history course—3 
• One 4000-level Europe history course—3
• One 4000-level world areas history course—3
• One 4000-level comparative or global history class—3
• Two 4000-level HIST electives—6
• One 3000-level Senior Seminar—3

Any additional 3000-level seminars can fulfill requirements that normally are fulfilled by 4000-level courses.

Lower- or Upper-division Elective Requirement 

• 6 credits in any other HIST courses—6

Historical Period Requirement

Included in the 42 hours earned to complete the major requirements must be 6 hours in courses whose focus falls primarily before 1800 and 6 hours in courses whose focus falls primarily after 1800. 2000-level non-major HIST courses cannot be used to fulfill this requirement. (The department maintains a list of courses broken down by geographic areas and historical periods.)

Ancillary Written Communication Requirement

In addition to the history requirements listed above and a minimum of 42 credits in history, students must complete one of the following lower-division written communication courses with a grade of C- or better:

• Lower-division Written Communication: ARSC 1080 College Writing and Research, ARSC 1150 Writing in Arts and Sciences, CLAS 1020 Argument from Evidence: Critical Writing about the Ancient World, ENGL 1001 Freshman Writing Seminar, PHIL 1500 Reading, Writing and Reasoning, WRTG 1100 Extended First-Year Writing and Rhetoric, WRTG 1150 First-Year Writing and Rhetoric, WRTG 1250 Advanced First-Year Writing and Rhetoric—3

NOTE: Under normal circumstances, no more than 45 credit hours in history may be used toward a student’s total University of Colorado graduation requirements. Students must have a grade point average of at least 2.00 in the major in order to graduate. Students may receive credit for HIST 1020 and/or HIST 1025 and/or 3 lower-division elective HIST credits by obtaining a score of four or better on the high school Advanced Placement history test(s). Some types of International Baccalaureate credit are acceptable; consult one of the major advisors to determine individual applicability. The CLEP test is not accepted for credit.

All students majoring in history must complete at least 12 credit hours of upper-division history in courses taught by the CU-Boulder faculty. In addition, HIST 1800, HIST 3020 and the 3000-level Senior Seminar must be successfully completed on the CU-Boulder campus with a C-or better.

Graduating in Four Years 

Students should consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for further information on eligibility for the four-year guarantee. The concept of “adequate progress” as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major. To maintain adequate progress in history, students must consult a history advisor each semester, but the following plan provides a rough outline of acceptable progress:

• Declare the major no later than the second semester of the freshman year.

Recommended Sequence of Courses

Required Courses and Semester Credit Hours

Freshman Year: total 9

• Any two of the required 1000-level HIST survey courses—6
• The ancillary lower-division written communication course—3

Sophomore Year: total 12

• The two remaining required 1000-level HIST survey courses—6
• HIST 1800 Introduction to Global History—3
• HIST 3020 Historical Thinking and Writing—3

Junior Year: total 12

• Four 4000-level HIST lecture courses—12

Senior Year: total 12

• Three 4000-level HIST lecture courses—9
• One 3000-level Senior Seminar—3

Grand total all terms: 45

Minor Program

The current requirements are as follows:

• A total of 21 credit hours in history, of which at least 12 hours must be upper-division. Courses intended to count for the minor may not be taken on a pass/fail basis, and students must earn a C- or better in any course to be counted toward the 21-hour minor requirement.
• At least 3 credit hours (one course each) must be taken in each of the four following geographical areas: the United States, Europe, World Areas (specific areas outside of Europe and North America) and Global or Comparative.

Additional Information about the Minor Program

2000-level HIST courses and courses taken for core curriculum credit are applicable to the minor. 4000-level courses may be used to fulfill both upper-division hours and geographic area hours.

HIST 3020 and all 3000-level Senior Seminars are restricted to history majors. 3000-level courses may occasionally be taken by minors if the course is not full as of the second week of drop-add and/or you have written permission from the instructor.