History and Politics

Department Office
Stevenson Hall 3802
707-664-2559
https://history.sonoma.edu/
https://politicalscience.sonoma.edu/

Department Chair
Samuel Cohen

The Department of History and Politics examines human societies, ideas, institutions, and public life across time and place. Students explore how the past and present are shaped by human choices constrained by social structures and political processes. They also develop the critical skills needed to assess evidence, evaluate competing claims, recognize misinformation, and interpret complex problems in order to participate thoughtfully in civic life.

The Department houses distinct programs in History and Political Science, each with its own curriculum and areas of focus. It offers BA degrees and minors in both fields, a Master’s degree in History, and several interdisciplinary minors that reflect the department’s broader intellectual commitments, including Jewish Studies and Human Rights Studies, which examine historical and contemporary struggles over justice, dignity, law, and political responsibility from global and comparative perspectives.

The Department also serves as the institutional home for the Holocaust and Genocide Lecture Series, the premier program of its kind in North America. Each spring, the series brings leading scholars, survivors, and public intellectuals to campus to engage questions of historical memory and ethical responsibility. Students can enroll in HIST/POLS 307, a weekly course built around the lecture series that offers the opportunity to hear directly from many of the most important historians of the Holocaust and leading scholars of genocide and human rights.
Across our programs, students question ideas and institutions often taken for granted and build skills in interpretation, evidence, and analysis to navigate complexity and assess competing claims. They examine how knowledge and authority are produced and contested and study a wide range of historical periods, intellectual traditions, and political contexts. These studies enable students to understand how beliefs, values, and structures of power emerge, are challenged, and are mobilized across lines of race, ethnicity, national origin, class, gender, religion, and other forms of difference.

Teaching in the department is grounded in close collaboration between students and faculty who are actively engaged in research and public-facing scholarship. In addition to a wide range of distinctive and intellectually rigorous courses, students benefit from applied learning opportunities including internships, community based projects, study abroad, and collaborative research. Together, these experiences enable students to connect past and present while developing strong analytical, research, and communication skills valued across a wide range of careers.

History

The study of history examines the full range of human thought and action, from economic and political systems to religious belief, cultural production, and social life. Drawing on methods from both the humanities and the social sciences, historians seek to understand how individuals and societies have confronted continuity, change, and conflict across time and place. This perspective provides essential context for understanding our present world and for engaging critically with contemporary debates.
In History courses, we study the past as an ongoing conversation shaped by sources and competing interpretations, rather than as a fixed set of inherited narratives. Through close attention to context and argument, students learn to read critically, test alternative explanations, and craft persuasive accounts of the past, developing an understanding of why historical interpretation continues to matter beyond the classroom.

In lower-division surveys of world and US history, students learn the basics of historical thinking while exploring the social, political, intellectual, and cultural history of human societies around the world. Upper-division courses are typically small and focused on a particular region, time period, or comparative topic. They emphasize discussion and sustained interaction between students and faculty. Students may also pursue independent reading courses and original research projects in close collaboration with faculty, present their work at academic conferences, and participate in undergraduate research forums at Sonoma State and beyond, including the Social Action Student Symposium and the SSU Undergraduate Research Symposium.

In addition, history majors have many opportunities to explore history and develop their skills through experiential learning opportunities, including internships and the nationally award-winning Sonoma State History Journal, in which students gain hands-on experience in scholarly publishing and editing, peer review, project management, and digital production. Many history majors choose to study abroad and apply overseas coursework to their degree requirements. In addition, the History program offers certificates that complement the major, including a Public History Certificate and a Dual Language Historical Research Certificate, which provide students with applied research experience and professional skills relevant to public-facing work and advanced historical study.

The History program offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The BA in History provides a rigorous liberal arts foundation while allowing students flexibility to pursue their interests. Courses include innovative upper-division seminars that explore global and regional histories as well as focused studies of public history, social history, political and intellectual history, religion, gender, the regulation of difference and belonging, violence, and historical mythmaking. Students benefit from distinctive experiences such as SSCI 299 and 399 (Thinking like a Social Scientist) which emphasize research design, interdisciplinary inquiry, and professional-level writing and presentation. Among the program’s most distinctive offerings is HIST/POLS 307, built around the annual Sonoma State Holocaust Lecture Series.

The MA in History is a research-intensive program designed for students who wish to engage deeply with historical questions, methods, and interpretation. Graduate students work closely with faculty on original research projects, refine advanced skills in source analysis and historical argumentation, and participate in sustained discussions of interpretation, historiography, and the uses of the past. The program prepares students for professional pathways in public history, education, civil service, cultural institutions, and other fields that value rigorous historical thinking and independent research, as well as doctoral study.

SSU History faculty bring a dynamic range of expertise, including modern intellectual and religious history, California and the American West, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, the ancient and medieval worlds, and global and comparative history. Faculty are active researchers whose work is nationally and internationally recognized, and students benefit directly from this engagement through close mentorship and participation in faculty-led scholarly work.

Both undergraduate and graduate students contribute to a vibrant department life. The student-led History Society hosts film parties, trivia nights, guest presentations, and study sessions open to all students. The award-winning History Journal publishes only student work, and is entirely designed and edited by students. Students and faculty gather at informal events as well as more formal lectures. The department also hosts regular sessions on careers and graduate school for History Majors.

Careers in History

History majors develop strong skills in analysis, research, and writing that are valued across a wide range of professions. By learning to evaluate evidence, construct arguments, and interpret complex information, students are well prepared for careers that require judgment, communication, and adaptability. Graduates of the BA in History program at Sonoma State have pursued careers in education, law, journalism, government service, business, public consulting and research, museums and cultural institutions, libraries and archives, digital media, and public history. Public history is a growing field, offering opportunities in government agencies, museums, historic parks, and heritage organizations. Graduates of the MA in History are prepared for advanced scholarly and professional pathways. Alumni have pursued doctoral study and now hold leadership and specialist roles in education, public history, cultural institutions, policy research, and related fields.

Students planning to pursue graduate study or a teaching career are encouraged to seek advising early in order to plan an appropriate course of study. Those interested in K–12 teaching should prepare for credential programs by completing relevant education prerequisites and required examinations. Through the History internship program, students may earn academic credit for supervised, history-related internships with museums, historical societies, schools, government offices, and other organizations.

The History program supports students preparing for careers as middle school and high school history and social science teachers. Students who plan to pursue the California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Social Studies complete coursework in History and related fields that provides subject-matter preparation in world history, United States history, and American government and political systems, alongside required education prerequisites and field experience. Completion of the single-subject credential qualifies candidates to teach social science courses at the secondary level, including history.

For further information about history pathways leading to secondary teaching credentials in social studies, contact the department chair.

History Department Learning Objectives

The History program at Sonoma State prepares its students to analyze primary and secondary sources and understand the subjectivities inherent in such texts. Across the curriculum, students engage in high-impact practices including undergraduate research, internships, and service learning courses such as HIST 355, America at War: Oral History and Performance. The program culminates with a required capstone course, HIST 498, Senior Seminar, in which students write and orally present a substantial article-length scholarly paper based on original research and situated within its historiographical context.

Upon completion of the program students will be able to:

Evaluate historical evidence by distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, assessing credibility, and analyzing the ways in which each can and cannot support historical arguments.
Identify diverse historical interpretations, arguments, and scholarly debates within particular fields or topics, and assess how those debates change over time.
Explain how time, place, and cultural context shape historical experiences and accounts of the past.
Construct effective historical arguments by selecting and integrating appropriate evidence from primary sources and situating claims drawn from secondary literature within existing debates.
Communicate historical knowledge clearly and effectively in written and oral forms.
Apply historical skills through high impact practices and experiential learning, including internships, undergraduate research, service learning, editorial and publication experience through the SSU History Journal, study abroad, and the required Senior Seminar capstone course, and demonstrate their relevance across academic, professional, and public contexts.

Political Science

Political Science studies power, institutions, and systems that structure the world we live in, engaging broad philosophical questions about values, authority, and political life. The program examines politics and public policy in the United States and in global and comparative perspective, with particular attention to international relations, including global conflict and cooperation, the interaction of social and economic systems with politics, and the historical context of US and global systems, interactions, and policies. Training in political theory, comparative analysis, and research methods equips students to analyze political institutions and processes in a complex, interdependent world.

The Political Science major allows students to explore their interests across the major subfields of the discipline while also developing analytical and applied skills. Coursework engages political theory, American politics, international relations, and comparative politics, including public policy and political systems and institutions in both national and international contexts. A common core of courses provides students with the foundational knowledge and research skills needed to pursue more advanced work at the upper division level. In these courses students study the relationship among values, ideology, and politics (POLS 205); fundamental issues in American politics (POLS 200); the logic of research in political science (POLS 302); comparative political analysis (POLS 303); theory and analysis of international politics (POLS 304); and a senior research seminar that guides students to bring together their skills developed in the major to complete political science research (POLS 498). The Department also strongly recommends that students take SSCI 299/399 - Thinking Like a Social Scientist, which introduces the questions, evidence, and analytical approaches social scientists use to understand contemporary social and political life.

Beyond this common core, as part of the additional units required for the major, each student must complete at least one upper-division course in each of the four major fields of political science: political theory, international relations, comparative government, and American government and politics. In upper division coursework, students can study terrorism and public policy, explore environmental philosophy as a framework for addressing climate change, study comparative politics through the lens of science fiction and fantasy, and examine the political and legal landscape of outer space exploration. Across this coursework, students learn how to apply the skills of a political scientist to contemporary issues, and practice policy development and analysis. There are also opportunities to collaborate with faculty on research, gain hands-on experiences in diplomacy and international relations, and participate in experiential learning through the program’s Atrocity and Genocide Prevention Simulation (POLS 250) and the award-winning Model United Nations course (POLS 345), which invites students into the world of diplomacy and international relations. Sonoma State students travel to New York City to participate in the national Model United Nations conference, where they practice negotiation, collaboration, and public speaking.

Upon graduation, students will have developed a solid foundation in political science, and the ability to think across multiple ideologies, perspectives, institutions, and their histories to better understand and therefore address pressing and enduring issues in politics.

The Political Science program offers a five-course minor to students from any major at the university. Students minoring in political science will deepen their topical understanding of politics, develop skills in writing and public speaking, and practice thinking globally and working through complex problems. These skills add dimension and knowledge to their major and future professional pathway. The minor supports any major at the university, and is commonly paired with majors such as communications, history, and sociology.

Internships

The Department offers several programs through which students may gain practical experience while earning academic credit. Political Science majors have the opportunity to connect with elected leaders, public officials, and community advocacy groups through our internship program. A Political Science internship involves working in the office of a public official, on an election campaign, or for an advocacy group or nonprofit organization. Interns have served with State Assembly Members, State Senators, Members of Congress, and in a number of campaigns for local, state, and national office. Students have also worked with advocacy groups and nonprofit organizations to effect change at the local, state, national and international levels. The Department regularly sends selected students to the state capitol to participate in the Sacramento Semester Program where they work with members of the Legislature, officers of the executive branch, or lobbyists to gain a fuller understanding of the political process firsthand. For those interested in a career in Washington, D.C., the department will support students seeking internships with members of Congress. Internships provide students the opportunity to try different career pathways, develop essential skills for job market readiness, and connect students to professional networks that can serve them for a lifetime.

Academic Advising

Each student is assigned a faculty advisor to help plan and carry out an individualized academic program. The advisors are assigned by the last name of each student. The Department suggests students seek faculty advice every semester, especially prior to registering for their next semester’s courses. Students may also seek academic advising through the SSU Advising Center.

Teaching Credential Preparation

Political Science majors interested in seeking a general elementary credential may demonstrate subject matter competency by passing the CSET Multiple Subject Assessment for Teachers For further information, contact the department office, or the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts at 707-664-2112.

Career Preparation

A bachelor’s degree in Political Science offers excellent preparation for careers in the public, private and nonprofit organizations. In particular, Political Science majors develop skills in critical reading and thinking, writing skills for research, drafting public policy, advocacy work, and negotiations; oral communication for diplomacy, law, lobbying, and sharing research findings; and skills in media and data literacy. The major can lead to opportunities in campaign management, speech writing, polling, public relations, lobbying, and voting analysis. Political Science students have also entered journalism careers in television, and social and print media. A Political Science degree also offers excellent preparation for a degree in the private sector, such as labor relations, information analyst, governmental relations or budget analyst. Political Science students graduate from Sonoma State and go on to law school, graduate school, paralegal careers, leadership in nonprofit organizations, private sector work in sustainability, electoral politics, city and county government, and local business leadership. Political science provides excellent training for a legal career, and the program offers a number of specialized courses in the field of constitutional law and civil liberties. The degree prepares students for positions in the overseas agencies of the U.S. government or in international organizations. The major readies students for a wide range of professional and academic pathways, with portable skills and a lifelong commitment to curiosity and learning.

Programs

Major

Masters

Minor

Sample Four-Year Plans

Sample Two-Year Transfer Plans