The departments of History and English offer an interdisciplinary joint major designed for students interested in exploring the relationship between experience and imagination in Anglophone culture. The joint major seeks a coherence which draws upon expertise in each department to aid the student in fashioning an individual program of study. The goal of the program is a logical and focused curriculum for exploring relationships of literature and history. Student participation in the intellectual life of each department is thus a high priority, and the exact nature of the individual class list should be worked out in consultation with the student's adviser in each department. There are no geographical or chronological limits placed on this joint major, but a thematic unity is expected.
Admission: Students interested in the joint major are strongly encouraged to file their application at the beginning of their junior year. The official letter of application must include a description of the student's proposed field of concentration within the joint major (e.g., modern Irish, African-American, comparative colonial, etc.), and must be signed by an adviser in each department. This letter calls upon the student to plan a course of study, though the student is not required to adhere precisely to that curriculum. The application must be submitted to the Director of Undergraduate Studies in each department no later than the end of registration of the first semester of the senior year.
History/English Major Requirements
At least thirteen courses (52 hours) distributed as follows:
- English—A total of six courses, all of which must be above the 100-level, four of which must be above the 200-level, and all of which must demonstrate a thematic coherence.
- History—A total of six courses, five of which must be above the 200-level, and all of which must demonstrate a thematic coherence.
- Writing—A thirteenth course, focused on writing, which may be an honors thesis, a directed reading which produces a senior essay (of 5,000 words to be read by the student's adviser in each department), or, with the written permission of a professor, an upper-division course in either department in which the student produces a term paper. The term paper should develop specific relationships between history and literature.
Note: Students who intend to complete a joint major in English/History are required to file an application to do so. The application is available through both departments and must be approved by their adviser in each department before the declaration can become official.
