A Message From The Department Chair
Greetings!
One of the many pleasures in serving as Chair of the Department of History at ETSU is this opportunity to welcome you to our website! As a Department, we have been privileged to serve Undergraduates throughout the timespan of this institution, and Graduate Students at the Masters level throughout the second half of that timespan.
Our Department envisions History as the study of humans as revealed by the past. Throughout education's heritage, studying History within the context of the Liberal Arts has proven to be an indispensable intellectual endeavor for students who desire to understand and appreciate the human condition in all of its diversity, as well as the historical processes that have shaped their own respective personal lives.
The Department of History offers a wide array of courses in the History of Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the United States and the World designed to acquaint students with the complexities of today's multicultural "global village" and to deepen their understanding of the events, opinions, ideas, and facts they will need to make informed political, social, and personal judgments throughout their lives. Our faculty provide students with critical thinking skills required for organizing and processing information, analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting evidence, and communicating "stories" of History. All of these processes aim at improving proficiency in reading and interpreting primary and secondary historical sources.
The study of History provides an appropriate and solid foundation for almost any career! The History degree is particularly useful in preparation for professional and graduate studies, such as education, law and paralegal work, library and information science, and religion. It is also an excellent background preparation for rewarding careers in museums and archival work, journalism, multimedia production, culture resource management, historical preservation, government service, business, administration, and other occupations that call for a strong Liberal Arts background.
Thank you kindly for making the time to look into our Department. Any of our Department's faculty and staff members will happily share more about History at ETSU – so please contact them. I, too, remain at the ready to help you in any way possible. We all welcome and look forward to hearing from you at any time!
Best Regards,
William Douglas Burgess Jr. Ph.D
Chair and Professor of History
burgessw@etsu.edu