Course Descriptions
History (HIS) Courses
HIS 100 Early Western Civilization: Ancient Greece to the Renaissance (3-0) 3 credits
This course explores the social, political, intellectual and cultural origins of the Western tradition in Europe, the Aegean, the Mediterranean, and the Near East; from Classical Greece and Imperial Rome through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation and the Age of Global Exploration. We will trace the evolution of distinctively Western institutions and values over the course of two millennia (5th century B.C.E - 17th century C.E.), and will examine the frequent interactions between the West and the wider world in the ancient, medieval and early-modern eras. This course carries SUNY General Education credit in World History and Global Awareness.
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HIS 101 Modern Western Civilization: Enlightenment to the Cold War (3-0) 3 credits
This course investigates the social, political, intellectual, economic and cultural development of modern Western civilization, from the 18th century Enlightenment, through the French Revolution, Napoleon, the Industrial Revolution, and the turbulent 20th century. We will examine the distinctive features, values and structures of the West during the last three centuries, and explore its frequent interactions with the wider world during the 19th century Age of Imperialism and the Cold War, as well as its role in seismic global events, like WWI, WW2, and the Holocaust. This course carries SUNY General Education World History and Global Awareness credit.
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HIS 105 Regional History of the Finger Lakes (3-0) 3 credits
This course explores the economic, political, social and cultural history of the Finger Lakes region, from its early Native American origins to the present, focusing on the unique development of this part of New York State within the larger context of United States history. Using an interdisciplinary and multimedia approach, the course will cover such topics as the sources and methods of local/regional history, native-European contacts in the 17th and 18th centuries, the regional impact of the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution, and more recent developments in the areas of transportation, business, viticulture, education and tourism.
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HIS 110 Early United States History (3-0) 3 credits
This course begins the exploration of the social, political, economic, intellectual and cultural development of the United States, from the pre-Columbian era to 1865. Topics include: the first European settlements, the American Revolution, the Age of Jefferson, Westward Expansion, Slavery and the Old South, and the Civil War. This course carries SUNY General Education US History and Civic Engagement Credit.
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HIS 111 Modern United States History (3-0) 3 credits
Modern U.S. History explores the social, political, economic, intellectual and cultural development of America after 1865. It covers such topics as Reconstruction, industrialization, Western expansion, the Progressive era, the Great Depression, the New Deal, WWI and WWII, America's rise as a world power, the Cold War, the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam, Watergate, the Reagan Revolution and the post-9/11 War on Terror. This course carries SUNY General Education US History and Civic Engagement Credit.
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HIS 112 Early World Civilizations (3-0) 3 credits
A survey of the political, economic, intellectual, and cultural development of major early global civilizations, from the Agricultural Revolution (c. 10,000 B.C.E) to the sixteenth century C.E., and their frequent interactions. The course also examines the origins of many of the world’s foremost religions (Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam), and considers the myriad ways the ancient, medieval and pre-modern eras have shaped the contemporary world. This course carries SUNY General Education World History and Global Awareness credit.
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HIS 122 Modern World History (3-0) 3 credits
A survey of modern world history since 1500; from the European colonization of the Americas in the 16th-17th centuries, to the 18th century Atlantic Revolutions, the 19th century Latin American Wars of Independence and the “Scramble for Africa,” the Ming and Qing dynasties of China, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, the Russian Revolution, the 20th century age of total War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, and the Fall of the Soviet bloc Significant attention will be given to the frequent, and consequential, interactions between global civilizations and cultures during the “Age of Overseas Discovery,” the “New Imperialism” of the Victorian era, World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, the birth of the atomic age, the Cold War, the post-1945 era of decolonization, and emergence of the European Union and the Third World. This course carries SUNY General World History and Civic Engagement credit.
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HIS 206 North American Indian History and Cultures (3-0) 3 credits
This course introduces students to the historical and cultural experiences of the various indigenous populations of North America. Additionally, special emphasis will be given to a number of specific indigenous groups within the 10 cultural regions of North America as we examine this topic from a compassionate yet unromanticized historiographical and cultural perspective. In short, we will work from the premise that Native Americans were active participants in producing that past, both before and after the European contact as opposed to being solely victims of oppression; we do this in order to gain a greater appreciation for their rich and diverse history and cultural status today. Through the lens of anthropology and history, this course will discuss and examine the various native cultures of North America including their origins and cultural development through time; the underlying similarities and the wide range of variability within these native societies; the impact of European cultural systems on these groups, and finally, we examine Native American societies as they are today. Prerequisite: ENG 101. (Also listed as ANT 206) This course carries SUNY General Education credit in World History & Global Awareness and Diversity: Equity, Inclusion & Social Justice.
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HIS 261 War and Society in the Age of Total War: WWI and WWII (3-0) 3 credits
This course focuses on the era of global conflict between 1870 and 1945, from the Franco-Prussian War, the trenches of the 1914-18 Western Front and the beaches of WWII Normandy and Iwo Jima, to the Holocaust, the birth of the atomic age and the dawn of the Cold War. The First and Second World Wars were history's first modern, industrial, technological, multidimensional, total and global conflicts, whose legacy continues to shape the world today. Of particular interest will be the crucial interaction between war and society: how societies give form and substance to modern conflict and how wars, in turn, spark dramatic social, political and economic change. Prerequisite: ENG 101 or Permission of Instructor. This course carries SUNY General Education World History and Global Awareness credit.
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HIS 262 The Cold War: To the Brink of Armageddon (3-0) 3 credits
An examination and analysis of the causes, conduct, and impact of the U.S.-Soviet struggle for global supremacy between 1945 and 1991, popularly termed the “Cold War.” Particular emphasis will be focused on the "Forgotten War" in Korea (1950-53); the Cuban Missile Crisis (when the world tottered on the brink of nuclear holocaust), and the Vietnam War, the longest and most divisive conflict in American history. Prerequisites: ENG 101.
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HIS 265 The Black Death and Beyond: How Disease Has Changed History (3-0) 3 credits
This course is a global history of medicine and disease, from antiquity to the present. It investigates the manifold ways in which plague, smallpox, typhus, syphilis, typhoid, cholera, tuberculosis, scurvy, malaria, influenza, COVID and other diseases have shaped human history, from the Paleolithic era, to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the medieval Christian and Islamic worlds, the Age of Exploration, the Industrial Revolution and beyond. It also explores how civilization and human activity (agriculture, urbanization, trade, imperialism, war, migration, medical and technological progress etc.) have, in turn, influenced the origins and course of diseases, and generated history's greatest epidemics and pandemics. Prerequisite: ENG 101.
This course carries SUNY General Education World History and Global Awareness credit.
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HIS 269 The United States History since 1945 (3-0) 3 credits
This course focuses on “America’s Century,” from its victorious participation in the Second World War, through its rise to global political, military, economic and cultural preeminence during the Cold War, to the present. Using a variety of media and striking a judicious balance between foreign policy and domestic developments, this course covers the events, personalities and issues that have shaped Modern America. Major topics include, WWII, birth of the atomic age, McCarthyism, the mass consumer society of the 1950s, Cold War crises in Berlin, Cuba, Korea and Vietnam, LBJ’s “Great Society,” civil rights movement, Nixon and Watergate, the space race, Ford-Carter Years, Reagan Revolution, Clinton’s Middle Way, America after 9/11 and the Obama presidency. Prerequisites: ENG 101.
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