UWT now offers a new, more flexible history minor

Beginning this winter quarter, UW Tacoma students now have the option to minor in history. The re­vised minor is available to students from all different majors — with the exception of those already majoring in history — and allows students to explore various parts of history while complimenting their studies.

The history minor requires 25 credits of coursework, with 10 of those credits for a foundational his­tory core — where students have the option of taking either world history, U.S. history or a combination of the two — and 15 credits of approved upper division (300–400 level) cours­es listed on the minor’s webpage.

The former public history minor was originally created for students interested in studying history and researching local history projects. The new revised history minor was changed from the public history mi­nor due to its inflexibility of 35 cred­its rather than 25, and a general de­cline in interest.

Dr. Julie Nicoletta, history minor coordinator and UWT professor in social and historical studies, first cre­ated the original public history minor in response to the lack of majors in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sci­ences Program at the time.

“When I first created the public history minor many years ago, we had no majors in what was then the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program,” Nicoletta said. “… Over time, the faculty created majors in IAS, including a history major. Once that major was up and running, there was a decline in the number of stu­dents interested in doing the public history minor.”

Due to the decline in interest, Ni­coletta and the other history faculty decided to revise the public history minor and create a new minor that would include a broader range of top­ics in history that students could study.

“We have many students who take a variety of history courses on our campus who are not history majors,” Nicoletta said. “So, the history fac­ulty decided it made sense to revise the public history minor, making it a more general history minor that students doing other majors (though not the history major) can pursue.”

Students interested in declaring the minor can choose from a variety of courses that best fit their interests. They also have the option of learning about a specific subject or era of history.

“Under the revised History minor, students can choose from a wider range of courses or create their own focus,” Nicoletta said. “For example, Asian history, U.S. history, the his­tory of empires, ethnic history, or public history.”

According to the history minor’s web page, the minor will benefit stu­dents who are applying to graduate studies in history, anthropology, art history and library science, or who are interested in careers as curators, preservationists, educators, park rangers, public relations profession­als and public policy analysts.

Even though students can no lon­ger minor in public history, they will still be able to study the subject.

“We [will] continue to offer his­tory courses that allow students to work on local history projects,” Ni­coletta said. “So Public History is still alive and well on the UW Ta­coma campus.”