Letter from the Chair

Welcome!

The BYU-Hawai‘i History Department teaches students in General Education classes and in History requirements for majors, minors and education students.  You will find in the department excellent teachers who draw from world history and their research fields.  The BYUH General Education curriculum includes two semesters of world history as part of the Area III “Synthesis” requirements.  The faculty collaborate with many departments on campus to teach the History 201 and History 202 courses, especially highlighting collegial cooperation from the Library Faculty and fellow professors in the World Communities courses.  The unique teamwork of historians, musicians, scientists, geographers, cultural theorists, political scientists, Hawaiian studies professors and archivists create a stimulating learning environment for GE History students.

History majors, minors, education students and other inquisitive students learn from a range of offerings in the History Department.  Like other universities in the USA, we offer a two semester introductory survey of American history.  There are many upper-division courses which focus on regional and chronological fields of history, like Modern North East Asia, the Early Modern Age, US Since 1945, Hawaiian History to Kamehameha V, Eastern Oceania, History of Pacific Islander Americans and many more.  We draw on the research expertise of the faculty concentrated in Oceania, Asia, Europe and the Americas.  We cannot claim to teach every region, noting the gaps in Africa, Australia, and so much more, and yet we urge all students with every interest to take a History class, learn, read and write about your interests.  The members of the BYUH History Department can open up the world of past, present and even the future.

BYUH History students have a world of careers waiting for them.  BYUH students with a B.A. in History have entered graduate programs in Law Schools, Business Administration, Languages, Anthropology, Library Science, City Planning and History.  Successful graduates also teach in the American public school system in Hawaii, California, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon and Utah, while others teach in New Zealand and Samoa.  Other History students began businesses in the tropical fish market, publishing houses and rental cars.  History majors also work at the Chicago Historical Museum and the National Museum of Taiwan.  A BYUH History major even works as a Ranger in the U.S. Park Service, leading tours at Yosemite National Park. Just as a History class can open up the world of the past to every student, the world of jobs, careers and professions opens up to a graduate in History.

E Komo Mai, Bienvenido, Willkommen, Hafa adai,

Jim Tueller, April 14, 2008