New Course Provides an Innovative Introduction to
Studying History at College Level
For many years, the keystones of our department’s History B.A. program have been Junior Seminar and Senior Thesis. Rightly so: we are committed to training History majors how to research and execute a long-form piece of original research as the culmination of our students’ course of study, and for outfitting them with competencies for their entire careers and lives. (Just read the alumni profiles in this issue of Connections to see how far those skills have taken them in the tech career field, for starters.)
During the past (2024-2025) academic year, as part of an Arts-and-Sciences-wide initiative, the Department undertook a wide-ranging review of what we do in the undergraduate History major. One facet of this was to articulate and further emphasize the transferable skills we inculcate in all our courses, partly in recognition of the current national conversation about the marketplace positioning of liberal arts subjects. Another was to look at the structure of History programs at other universities – peer and aspirational counterparts – to see how we compare. And we compared very well in almost every way except one: the lack of a gateway course to the major, not the traditional “survey” but rather an introduction to foundational knowledge and critical skills, what the study of history at the college level actually consists of, welcoming students into the discipline while preparing them for more advanced coursework.
The result is History 101, “Encountering the Past”, being taught for the first time in the fall 2025 semester by Dr. Jennifer Paxton, Associate Professor of History and Director of the University Honors Program. The course, in the words of its own syllabus, “introduces students to the questions historians ask and the tools they use to explore the past. It will focus heavily on building the skills required to work with a wide variety of historical sources and write well-structured, well-argued historical essays in correct and elegant prose.” It is now required for all incoming History majors, ordinarily in their first year, and is already proving to have another positive outcome for our students, which is community-building among students who previously had no common course experiences as History majors before their junior year.
"Encountering the Past" is all about collaboration, starting with the design of the course, which was workshopped with the entire department and then planned out in detail by both Dr. Paxton and the chair of the department, Dr. von Klimo. Dr. Paxton reports that the chance to work on the syllabus with Dr. von Klimo was one of the most enjoyable and fruitful pedagogical adventures in her career at Catholic University. Students really do "encounter" the past. Class exercises target specific areas where history matters; for example, each student is responsible for introducing the historical angle on a contemporary issue in the news (which is what you see in the picture above). Recent presentations have explained the history of government shutdowns and of high-profile heists from the Louvre. Students have also learned about the ways in which Artificial Intelligence can be used in historical research. After a presentation on A.I. in history by Dr. Sue Yeon Syn from the Department of Information Sciences, each student researched a specific text, monument, or artifact that has been illuminated by A.I. techniques, from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Nazca Lines in the desert of southern Peru.
Camaraderie is on full display within the four teams into which the students have been divided. The teams are working together to create the design for a history-themed computer game. So far, they have chosen their themes (for example, create a New World colony, fight the Napoleonic Wars, navigate the choices facing young people during the Vietnam era), researched historical characters (both playable and non-playable), and devised maps to guide players through their various options within each game. The teams will present their game designs to their classmates and invited guests at the end of the semester.
The community-building aspect of the class is one thing that Ashley Tiwari – a first-year student from South Richmond Hill in Queens, New York – particularly appreciates. She says, “I found a lot of friends in the class, and everyone’s just so welcoming. Even when we don't agree, it's not argumentative, it's generally trying to see what the other side is trying to say.”
One recurring aspect of the course is that Dr. Paxton regularly invites colleagues from the Department of History and Anthropology to give guest presentations from their respective methdologies and approaches to historical research, in a very interactive mode with the class. One recent guest appearance was by Dr. Laura Masur, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, who specializes in historical archaeology and material history of the Mid-Atlantic region. Ashley recalls, “She gave us different artifacts to choose from, and then to analyze and try to figure out the backstory to it, and that was really fun. We had a bell clapper from a plantation in Maryland. And we were able to figure out its composition, that it was cast iron, that it was actually used as a dinner bell or a worship bell. We had some documents to go from, and the actual physical artifact, and that was really cool to do together. It made me want to know more about the Department. Everyone seems so cool!”
Thomas Caprio – a transfer student with third-year standing from Sewell, New Jersey – agrees. Another guest presenter was Dr. Steven West, Associate Professor of History, a specialist on the American Civil War and its aftermath, who also teaches Washington 101, which includes visits to memorials in the city. Thomas recalls, “After his class, we stayed on the memorial topic, and Dr. Paxton showed us 9-11 memorials, the differences between how they were displaying events. And we had a great discussion. It kind of turned into a bit of a back and forth about the memorial in Pennsylvania for Flight 93.” Thomas relishes the variety of interactions within the class, which include online chat sessions. Also, students in HIST 101 divide into small groups that each work on parallel projects and then present to the entire class, in a kind of collegial rivalry dynamic. He reflects, “It’s good, it’s camaraderie, and I think it’s friendly competition. They’re really good people, and I’ve definitely made some good friends in the class.”