Opening doors to all kinds of career possibilities, the study of history is perfect for students with curious minds and an interest in the world. Studying history at Carson-Newman gives you the intellectual tools for lifelong learning — such as critical thinking, analysis, digital research and writing — along with hands-on experience in “doing history.” The C-N history program offers an expansive view of world history and a wide range of courses for your unique interests.
Career Path Options
BA in History with Teacher Licensure
Prepares students to teach history in public and private 6–12 schools
BA in History
Provides the foundation for a variety of post-graduation options including graduate school for MA or PhD degrees in academic history or related professional programs in archival work, library science, public history, museums studies or historical preservation/interpretation
Whatever your career interests, you can follow your passions as you explore the world of history. After you complete core requirements in world history and American history, these are some of the options you can study through electives: British imperialism, African history, the Middle East, Japan, China, the revolutionary era in Europe, Civil Rights, Asian cinema, literature and revolution. Our program also has a strong emphasis on social history and issues of social justice.
The C-N history program has the flexibility for you to easily add a minor or second major in something else that piques your interest or builds skills you will need in your career. Among the most common second majors and minors our students combine with their history degrees are religion, political science, women’s studies, medieval and renaissance studies, philosophy or Spanish.
Carson-Newman history graduates are scattered around the world with specialties as varied as their own personal interests. A few examples:• International education• Business sector• Nonprofit work in social history or social justice• Local, state or national government• Teaching• Leadership for historic sites, museums and libraries• Academic research
You can also study at Oxford University in England through our Oxford Studies program.Or you can study Japanese history at a partner institution in Japan or Chinese history and culture at a school in China.
Jessica Wilkerson, PhD, a C-N alum, is now a history professor at University of Mississippi where she is also associated with the Center for Southern Studies and the Sarah Issom Center for Women and Gender Studies. After graduating from C-N she earned her MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College and PhD in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She recently published a highly acclaimed book entitled “To Live Here, You have to Fight: How Women Led Movement for Appalachian Social Justice”. She is also the author of the widely read Longreads article “Living with Dolly Parton.” Her journal article “The Company Owns the Mine But They Don’t Own Us: Feminist Critiques of Capitalism in the Coalfields of Kentucky,” won the A. Elizabeth Taylor Prize for the best article in women’s history from the Southern Association for Women Historians.
Melissa Ooten, a C-N history alum (’99), is the Associate Director of the WILL* program at the Westhampton College at the University of Richmond where she is also a gender research specialist. She has worked with WILL*, a program devoted to studying issues of diversity, since 2005 and is deeply committed to educating the next generation of social justice advocates. She holds a PhD in history from The College of William and Mary and specializes in studying social movements in the U.S. South. She published “Race, Gender, and Movie Censorship in Virginia, 1922–1965” (2015) and has written a number of articles on issues ranging from mass incarceration to eugenics to teaching #BlackLivesMatter through film. “Audacious Voices: Profiles in Intersectional Feminism”, co-edited with WILL* director Holly Blake, will be published by She Writes Press in fall 2018.
Ashely Falzetti Glassburn, PhD, (’02) who studied in our department in the early 2000’s and had multiple majors, is now an Assistant Professor at Eastern Michigan University. In addition to teaching courses in Women’s Studies, she is active in language revitalization programs for the Miami Nation of American Indians.
Dr. Amanda Ford, PhD, who graduated from Carson-Newman as an honors student in History and with an Oxford Studies minor (’06), now works as an Assistant Professor of History at C-N after pursuing an MA at Queens College, Belfast (’07). She completed her PhD at the University of Arkansas in the area of church and state relations in Colonial Kenya. She is currently working on a book on British missionaries during the era of the British empire.
The History professors are extremely knowledgeable about their fields and do an excellent job of sharing this knowledge with students in an encouraging way.
Political Science majors have the opportunity to take a class consisting of guest speakers who practice various types of law. The class also helps them with the law school application process. Senior Political Science majors conduct a voter registration drive every fall.
