Links Faculty Seminar on Comparative Cultures New Jersey History Partnership Project New Jersey Historical Commission American Historical Association Resources for Careers in History The National Council for History Education The National Council for the Social Studies |
Welcome to the Department
Breaking News!* Professor Chris Bellitto's new
book coincides with the Pope's US visit.
CONFERENCE:
Dr. Olof Ljunström of the Karolinska
Intitutet, Stockholm, Sweden Wednesday June 11, 2008 Hennings 113 All are welcome! New History Course Offerings, Fall 2008 HIST3235 Europe in the 18th Century HIST3323 History of Medicine in America HIST3341 America in the 20s Also see the new
Kean@Ocean Get a Kean University history degree by attending classes at the conveniently located Ocean County College campus
Department OperationsDR. MARK EDWARD LENDER, Acting Chair DR. SUE GRONEWOLD, Department Chair (on sabbatical until July, 2008) DR. CHRISTOPHER BELLITTO, Assistant Chair
The Department of History is one of Kean University's oldest programs of study and has been a part of the instructional component of the institution since its inception in 1855. It is the belief of the faculty of the Department that every student should meet basic standards of historical literacy before they graduate. This includes insights into cultures and problems of civilizations, the whole as well as the interaction of the parts, an understanding of human groupings countries, religions, civilizations-which have generated the emotions, symbols, and values of contemporary life, and an appreciation of complex causes of the rise and fall of societies, and the underlying realities of leadership, social class and power. History can and should encourage a sense of proportion about life and provide us all with the relative scale of our own rather brief moment here and how incredibly valuable that really is. If done properly, history can encourage and inspire tolerance and mutual understanding and help to bring about a more just place in which to live. History can show us how to behave, or at the very least, how not to behave. It can teach us what to believe in and what to stand for. At its core, the lessons of history are lessons of appreciation. Everything we have, all of our great institutions, universities, libraries, cities, our laws, music, poetry, our technology, our freedoms and opportunities, everything is because someone went before us and did the very hard work which was needed, provided the creative genius, gave us a civic belief structure. No one can afford to ignore that. Critical thinking, communications across cultures and gender, writing and reasoning all need historical literacy to provide them with an important societal context. The Department of History believes that the study of history is at the heart of the interactive mission of the University and is one of its most important and vital academic assets.
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| © 2008 Kean University Department of History. |