History Minor
As a history student, you are an investigator of the past. Your mission is to gain a deeper appreciation of your community, city, country and world by learning about the struggles and achievements of those who came before you.
Like creators of myth and legend, you look to the past to explain the present. Unlike them, you seek truth, not fiction. You must follow the evidence, finding clues to the past in books, newspapers, letters, living memories, digital sources and traditions passed down by word of mouth. You will learn what investigators before you have discovered and then add discoveries of your own.
Minor Requirements
The History minor program requires students to complete 18 credit hours in history, including world history and four additional history courses. Students should consult with a department faculty member when considering a minor. Please review the program requirements and course descriptions in the SXU Academic Catalog for more detailed information.
Take History Further
With SXU's History program, you gain transferable skills that serve a fast-changing marketplace.
- Learn how to excel at telling stories. Use information to create a narrative that informs and persuades. These skills are excellent for anyone in marketing, sales, communications, fundraising or public relations.
- Conduct deep research. Distinguish how to find a wide variety of evidence and sources and how to evaluate them with an eye for contradictions or conflicts while producing a coherent argument. These skills are perfect if you plan to pursue law, research analytics, investigative journalism or writing.
- Ask meaningful questions about change and continuity over time. Analyze how change happens and the consequences of change. As a result, you will be better prepared to serve and improve the common good. These skills are ideal for a business executive, legislator, technology entrepreneur or market research analyst.
- Develop an understanding and posture of humility. To understand before judging and to collaborate to expand our limited knowledge base, you will be able to work systematically in a diverse and morally complex world. This is a great skill for a human resources specialist or a global development specialist.
SXU is a unique place to learn about history.
- SXU has been part of Chicago history for over 175 years. Generations of our graduates have gone on to be history makers in this city and beyond.
- Our faculty include experts in the history of Illinois and the United States, Mexico and Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
- We combine this breadth with the advantages of a small department. You will come to know your professors as individuals as they will with you.
- We will discover what sparks your curiosity and guide you on your own quest for historical understanding.
- You will work closely with your fellow students and form lifelong friendships.
- Our University comes from a tradition of faith, service and value for the individual.
- Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, SXU will show you that historical choices are also ethical and moral ones and that knowledge must combine with purpose and principle.