History interprets the past for the present by exploring the institutions, ideas, cultures, and creations of men and women in the context of time and place. It is focused on change over time; both change of the subjects of study and of historians’ attempts to make sense of those subjects. History ranges over all of recorded human experience, drawing from and placing in context the achievements of the arts, sciences, social sciences, and other humanities.

The student of history will learn to evaluate evidence critically, to sift and organize evidence fairly and persuasively, to analyze the evidence for its patterns and meanings, and to integrate this into a broad scope of human experience. Historical study provides perspective, helping individuals to place their own lives, values, and world events in context, and to recognize the processes of change that have brought them to the present.