About History
Understanding the past through evidence and argument. Courses carry the HIST subject code and are offered through the College of Arts, Design & Communication. Numbers below 300 are introductory, 300–499 advanced undergraduate, and 500 and above graduate. Prerequisites are enforced at registration.
How the sequence works
Of the 9 HIST courses listed, 4 are introductory (numbers under 300), 2 are advanced undergraduate (300–499). 5 courses have no prerequisite and are a reasonable first step. Later courses assume the earlier ones, so read prerequisites before you plan a term — they are enforced at registration and an override from the History department is the only way around them.
HIST 1010 — United States History to 1877 3 cr
Colonization, revolution, the early republic, expansion, slavery, and the Civil War, using primary sources.
Prerequisite: none.
HIST 1020 — United States History since 1877 3 cr
Industrialization, immigration, the World Wars, the New Deal, the civil-rights era, and recent decades.
Prerequisite: none.
HIST 1110 — World History to 1500 3 cr
Comparative development of major societies, trade networks, and belief systems across Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.
Prerequisite: none.
HIST 1120 — World History since 1500 3 cr
Global integration, empire, revolutions, industrialization, decolonization, and the contemporary world.
Prerequisite: none.
HIST 2100 — The Historian's Craft 3 cr
Working with primary and secondary sources, historiography, and writing an evidence-based argument.
Prerequisite: HIST 1010 or HIST 1110.
HIST 2300 — Wesconsin and the Upper Midwest 3 cr
Indigenous nations, the fur trade, lumbering, farming, industry, and immigration in the region.
Prerequisite: none.
HIST 3100 — History of Technology 3 cr
How tools, machines, and systems have shaped work, war, and daily life, and been shaped in turn.
Prerequisite: HIST 2100.
HIST 3300 — Modern Europe 3 cr
The French Revolution to the present: nationalism, the World Wars, the Cold War, and integration.
Prerequisite: HIST 1120.
HIST 4900 — Senior Seminar in History 3 cr
A substantial research paper based on primary sources, workshopped and presented.
Prerequisite: senior standing.
Planning and advising
Your degree audit shows exactly how HIST courses apply to your requirements; this list only shows what is offered. If you are choosing between two courses, deciding when to take a heavy one, or wondering whether a course will run next term, your academic adviser can tell you. Course availability by term is set close to registration and is not guaranteed by anything on this page.
Fictional information
UW–Porter Falls is a work of parody. Every course, prerequisite, credit value, and department on this page is invented; nothing here describes a real curriculum or a course you can enroll in.