Learn more about what the History Department can offer, such as our Fall 2020 Courses, History Careers, and Internship Opportunities.
Also, learn more about being a history student and a historian, and what other jobs a historian can have.
History Department Virtual Bronco Day 2020
LET'S GO BRONCOS!
Welcome to the History Department’s Virtual BRONCO DAY 2020! In an effort to keep our campus visitors, students, and staff safe and healthy with the COVID-19 pandemic, the university is closed. However, Boise State has re-envisioned BRONCO DAY 2020 to be a virtual event. So, come online and celebrate with us! Let’s Go Broncos!
Explore what the History Department has to offer from a variety of courses, intriguing internships, and many more!
Explore the History Department
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History Fundamental
UF 100 – History of American Capitalism, Fall 2020
How did a relatively marginal player in the Atlantic marketplace transform into the world’s largest economy? What is American capitalism, where did it come from, and where is it going?
Prof. Shaun Nichols, Department of History
For more information email shaunnichols@boisestate.edu
History Now
UF 100-08 History in the News, Fall 2020
This class seeks to help us better understand the historical context of the specific issues – “ripped from the headlines” – that we will cover in class, and we will identify historical lessons that can be applied to those specific issues in the here and now. Through these immediate exercises, we will develop the skills and tools necessary to (a) explore the historical context of and (b) identify historical lessons for other issues we face now and in the future.
Prof. Bob Reinhardt, Department of History
For more information email bobreinhardt@boisestate.edu
History Choices
HIST 103 – Western Civilization Pre-Hsitory to the 17th Century, Fall 2020
In this class, we will explore motivations and choices, such as:
- What kind of choices did people face – big and small choices, political and religious choices, and personal and public choices?
- Why might people choose change or not to change?
- What preconceived ideas might we have about the past?
- How can we respect and explore the past on its own terms?
Prof. Joanne Klein, Department of History
For more information email jklein@boisestate.edu
HIST 327 World War I, Fall 2020
Confident nineteenth-century Europe was destroyed on the battlefields of the Great War, 1914-1918. This course will examine how this war began, the war on all fronts, including the war in the west, Russia, the Balkans, Africa, at sea, in the air and at home, and the impact of the war on the twentieth century. War poems, writings by both men and women, and film will be used to explore these traumatic years.
Prof. Joanne Klein, Department of History
For more information email jklein@boisestate.edu
History Life
HIST 223 – Introduction to Environmental History, Fall 2020-Spring 2021
Boise has its river, Switzerland its mountains. Australia’s Outback is famous the world over and Mount Fuji symbolizes Japan. In HIST 223, you will explore how the natural world has shaped human communities around the world and then delve into the history of your favorite place.
Prof. Lisa Brady, Department of History
For more information email lisabrady@boisestate.edu
History Empowering
HIST 268 – Working in America: Class, Labor, and Inequality, Fall 2020
What has it meant, historically, to be an American farmer, slave, wage laborer, manager, or owner? How can primary sources—diaries and speeches, archival documents and folk songs—help us to better understand our past?
Prof. Shaun Nichols, Department of History
For more information email shaunnichols@boisestate.edu
History Essential
HIST 330 – Human Rights Past and Present, Fall 2020
This course uses history diagnostically to explore what has advanced and obstructed human rights in order to enhance human rights advocates’ effectiveness today. (Hist. 330 is part of the Human Rights Certificate program; it is open to all upper division students regardless of major or enrollment in the certificate.)
Prof. Jill Gill, Department of History
For more information email jgill@boisestate.edu
HIST 349 – Multicultural America, Fall 2020
This course explores the history of race, ethnicity, and rights in America from colonization to the present.
Prof. Jill Gill, Department of History
For more information email jgill@boisestate.edu
History Vital
HIST 340 – The Korean War, Fall 2020
Why is Korea divided? Is there hope for reunification? Can seven decades of separation and animosity be overcome? This course examines the roots of the 1950-1953 Korean War with special attention to the military conflict as well as its political and social legacies.
Prof. Lisa Brady, Department of History
For more information email lisabrady@boisestate.edu
History Enlightening
HIST 366 – Caribbean in the American Century, Fall 2020
Offers an opportunity to assess the role of the United States and its impact on the Caribbean over the course of the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the Hispanic Caribbean. This is not a traditional diplomatic history course. Instead, it will allow students to explore how the U.S. conception of an “American Lake” shaped the racial, national, and political boundaries of the modern Caribbean.
Prof. Micah Wright, Department of History
For more information email micahwright89@boisestate.edu
History Chance
HIST 377 – World War II: A Global History, Fall 2020
Class views World War 2 through three themes: Strategy of the major Nations, the Behavior of Soldiers, and the Experience of Non-Combatants. Particular emphasis will be on German plans for a New Order in Europe and Japanese plans for a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Prof. David Walker, Department of History
For more information email davidwalker2@boisestate.edu
History Understanding the World
HIST 382-001 Modern Iran, Fall 2020
This course offers a historical overview of modern Iran from the establishment of the Qajar dynasty in 1785 to the present day. To provide an in-depth understanding of modern Iranian culture and society, it enriches the political narrative(s) of Iranian history with perspectives from the arts, literature, culture, and everyday life.
History is understanding the past by connecting politics with culture and people
Prof. Ida Meftahi, Department of History
For more information email idameftahi@boisestate.edu
History Moving Beyond Stereotypes
HIST 382-002 Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East, Fall 2020
Explores key concepts, attitudes, and themes concerning gender and sexuality in the Middle East. Drawing on disciplines of history, religious studies, and anthropology, the course investigates the complexities of gender identities and practices in light of ethno-religious diversity of the region as well as paradoxes of religious law and realities of everyday life. History is moving beyond stereotypes to learn about lives of ordinary people around the world
Prof. Ida Meftahi, Department of History
For more information email idameftahi@boisestate.edu
History Controversial
HIST 397 – History of Globalization, Fall 2020
In this course, we will use historical methodology to examine the processes of globalization, its genesis and evolution, and its significance for the modern world. Above all, the class is designed to introduce students to key theoretical debates and multidisciplinary discussions about globalization, and to reflect upon how an historical approach might contribute to our understanding of this phenomenon.
Prof. Micah Wright, Department of History
For more information email micahwright89@boisestate.edu
History The Context for All We Do
HIST 101 – World History, Summer 2020
A survey of global history through the 16th century, the course examines the emergence of cultures and states in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere in a comparative framework.
Prof. Nick Miller, Department of History
For more information email nmiller@boisestate.edu
HIST 498 – Senior Research Seminar, Fall 2020
The culminating experience for History majors, this seminar offers students the opportunity to research and write about a variety of topics. We will be using the collections of the Boise State University Archives in this course, so students will gain experience working in archival settings.
Prof. Nick Miller, Department of History
For more information email nmiller@boisestate.edu
History Collaborative
HIST 502 – Public History in Theory and Practice, Fall 2020
In this graduate-level course, we will explore the variety of ways that history is and can be put to use in the public sphere, from museum exhibits and archival work to podcasts and historical research in the courtroom. Graduate students (and advanced undergraduates, with instructor permission) from all fields are welcome!
Prof. Bob Reinhardt, Department of History
For more information email bobreinhardt@boisestate.edu
Professor Bob Reinhardt
Prof. Reinhardt started his career as a historian because he loves working with people on how to tell stories about the past that help their lives make sense. He is currently working with our interns that are working on projects such as designing museum exhibits, writing the history of Boise State, developing historical GIS projects, serving the Idaho Humanities Council, and more. Recently, Prof. Reinhardt’s graduate students did a podcast about the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, a website and public presentations about Boise’s neighborhood associations, and a massive survey of historical homes on Kootenai Street in Boise.
Prof. Reinhardt has a book on the history of the global eradication of smallpox and a forthcoming book about the history of a community in Oregon that has shifted from timber to tourism. Then his next big research project is called “An Atlas of Drowned Towns,” which will survey, explore, and tell the stories of the dozens of communities in the American West that were inundated, displaced, and sometimes disappeared by massive dams and other river development projects.
Professor Lisa Brady
Prof. Brady started her career as a historian because history is a family tradition; her mother and her older sister were history teachers. She was raised in the discipline. When she discovered environmental history, which allows her to combine her interest in history with her love of the natural world, she found my calling in Environmental History. This semester (Spring 2020) her graduate students in HIST 501 are all working on their final research papers, which range in topic from military history (New Zealand’s Home Guard during WWII, perceptions of masculinity during the Korean War, the Lincoln Brigade during and after the Spanish Civil War, and African American militias before the US Civil War), to environmental issues (the Buffalo Commons idea and environmental justice in Papua), to just about everything in between (sheepherding in Nevada, Psychiana, and Finnish log construction in the New Sweden Colony). Students in her HIST 389 class are learning and writing about modern war and its environmental causes and consequences. Recently. Prof. Brady is working with a number of graduate students on their MAHR projects and their MA theses and portfolios. Most of them focus on some aspect of environmental history (salmon in Idaho, public land management in the US West, and mining and environmental justice in Papua).
Currently, Prof. Brady has a number of projects going on. First, is an essay on the environmental history of the US Military for an Oxford University Press handbook. She is finishing a book on war and the environment for the Oxford “Very Short Introduction” series. Her bigger and more long-term project is an environmental history of the Korean War and South Korean post-war reconstruction. Much of this work has focused on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as an inadvertent nature preserve.
