Dear History Blog Readers,
I want to take this opportunity to welcome back our students and faculty and to say hello to our readers. This is the third year of our blog and we continue to share information of relevance to all who visit our website.
The new academic year is off to a wonderful start. Our faculty have returned from an exciting summer of travel, research, and writing. During June, July, and August, they have traveled to archives in India, France, the UK, Washington DC, Boston, MA, Portland, ME, Germany, and Turkey, to mention just a few of the locales. Conference papers were delivered, articles and books were drafted or completed, and new courses were prepared.
Our students were engaged in equally exciting ventures: studying about the Second World War on the beaches of Normandy, France, pursuing independent research on campus, or working exciting jobs in museums, archives, law firms, banks, and summer camps. Graduate students worked on theses, pursued internships, and, in some cases, prepared for comprehensive examinations.
In short, the summer was both busy and productive.
We are looking forward to an exciting academic year. We have a number of new courses on the books, including a team-taught class on the First World War that will draw on the expertise of many faculty to give students an integrated and varied learning experience. We continue to expand our internship program, and we hope to offer many exciting lectures, career-planning seminars, and social events for undergraduates and graduates alike throughout the 2016-17 academic year.
As always, I will use this blog to share information with our readers about the value of historical study. Today, I want to share with you a blog post by a nurse who majored in history as an undergraduate. It is an interesting statement on the value of history and the liberal arts more generally to work in the field of medicine. I hope you will enjoy it.What to Do with a BA in History
Look for more posts from me in the months to come. Please feel free to write to the history department or visit us in Wheeler House at any time.
Best wishes for a happy and productive September,
Paul Deslandes
Chair, Department of History
