Hello and welcome. My name is Dr. Jason Jordan. I am an Assistant Professor of History here at the University of New Haven. What I would like to do today, this just very briefly gives you an overview of our History program and our Global Studies program. And also make a case for why you should study these things here at the University of New Haven. What I like to tell my students about what History or Global Studies can do for you, in terms of what we offer as faculty. I think it can be boiled down to three things-- We teach you how to think. We teach you how to write, and we teach you how to speak. We do this by teaching you things like how to formulate a research question. How to look up sources of information and evaluate their reliability. How to construct an argument. How to use evidence to persuade an audience, and how to process and understand a wide range of topics.
And we do this not just by having you read and memorize a textbook, but by really trying to involve our students in the process of their own education, through informal class discussions, debates, research presentations, and other hands-on active types of assignments. In the process of doing these types of activities, our students gain a number of usable skills related to communicating with others. And these skills are important because these are skills that employers want in the job market. In any potential career field, our students walk away prepared to do a number of things once they graduate from our programs. These types of skills are the most desired yet hardest to find for employers. Employers are increasingly looking for people to hire, that can communicate with expertise and authority about important issues. And that is what we teach you how to do here at the University of New Haven.
We also try to give our students the skills for navigating an increasingly complex and diverse world. These are skills that are just necessary for life. For History, we encourage our students to engage with and work to understand a lot of lived experiences of people of diverse cultures and places and engage with history, and with current issues and debates that relate to our history. For Global Studies, our students engage in multi-disciplinary coursework, not just in History, but Political Science, Economics, National Security, and Sociology. Along the way, you learn about not only the forces that have shaped the world that we live in today, but we helped to give you the tools that you wouldn't need to be able to shape the future as well.
In terms of the courses that we offer, as you can see, across both History and Global Studies, there are a wide variety of topics that you can take coursework in, from traditional survey courses, focusing on the history of various regions of the world, to more specialized courses, based around particular themes and topics, such as poverty in American history, African American history through film, World War One, resistance movements, and history of revolutions, or sport in Latin America. In Global Studies, students often have the opportunity to take a number of courses that will allow them to understand the world from varying perspectives. These types of courses allow our students the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge in a variety of areas.
A common question that students and parents often ask is, "Well, what do you do with these types of majors? What do you do? What is a History major? What do you do with a Global Studies major?" Our answer to that is can do just about anything. History majors go on to work in a wide variety of different fields. Education is usually the most obvious and the most popular in terms of elementary, secondary, or college-level education. Historians also go on to be librarians to work in a corporate world in Marketing, Administration, Archival work, or Record Managing or serving as Contract Historians for various corporations. Historians work in the field of communication as Journalists, Editors, Public Speakers, or legal work as Lawyers, Paralegals, legislative staff, or Expert Witnesses.
In terms of Global Studies, the opportunities are similarly varied, students go on to work in a wide variety of fields, from governance to education to business to media and journalism to non-profit sector, and travel and tourism, working in jobs that relate to National Security, Foreign Service, Teaching, working as Interpreters doing Social Work, working as Researchers or Editors going into Banking or Sales, we're also working in Management and Lodging.
So why should you study these things here at the University of New Haven? What we take pride in is the close hands-on nature of our community. And it really is a community whether you're in the History department, or you take Global Studies courses, the thing that we emphasize is one-on-one interaction with your professors. Instead of going to say a large lecture hall with 200 or 300 other students and a professor will never know you as a person, our professors know their students by name. We hold office hours with them routinely to go over their coursework, talk about future career paths, or just anything going on in our lives.
There are opportunities for hands-on research through our Summer Undergraduate Research Program, or in terms of internships and the broader New Haven area, or even opportunities to study abroad, as well. Again, in our programs, it always comes back to hands-on experiential education. In terms of our two majors, one of the things that we emphasize is flexibility, allowing students to really chart their own course forward throughout the major. In the History major, there are a certain number of classes and various areas, and years that you would need to study. But beyond that, you really are free to choose your own path following the courses that most interest you. In Global Studies, given that it's an interdisciplinary program, you'll be taking courses in a variety of different areas, from History to Political Science, to Sociology, to language courses. But again, in all of this, you really have the opportunity to shape what your major looks like focusing on the topics that interest you the most.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to this presentation. If you have any questions about either of our programs, please feel free to make use of the contact info that is on the screen. Our Department Chair Dr. Burton McCormick is always willing to answer questions about our two programs. You can also find information about them on the University of New Haven's site. The History Department also has a Facebook page where you can keep track of the latest happenings in our department. Thank you for your time, and we hope to see you soon here at the University of New Haven.