MLA-History

Greek and Roman History will survey the 1000 year history from the founding of the Roman Republic, in the context of ancient kingdoms of the Mediterranean world, to the long collapse of the Roman Empire under the weight of a slew of historical problems, not least of which the invasions of barbarian hordes that led to the creation of Europe.

An introduction to the development of the principal English legal institutions and doctrines. On demand.

The development of European civilization in the Middle Ages; the culture of Christendom (300-1300). Fall.

The European Renaissance, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations and the Age of the Baroque. The dividing of Europe in religion and politics (1300-1715). Spring.

This course will examine the social history of early modern times in Europe, from the Renaissance, Italian and Northern, to the era of Protestant Reformation, with a focus on the every day life and conditions of women with attention to faith, family, class, and education.

Medicine and Society uses an historical approach to study the dynamic interplay between disease and society in America. It examines the changing patterns of disease, the roots of morbidity and mortality, the evolution of medical theory and practice, the development of hospitals and the medical profession, the rise of the bio-technology, and post-humanism.

Music Since 1945 is a study of music across the genres of Western Art Music, Jazz, and Rock, with a focus on their mutual influences both internal to their compositional traditions and cultural contexts. A key focus of this course is the role of recording and listening technologies, and the music industry in the development of music during this period.

This course will survey the regional history and culture of the Middle East since earliest times to today.

Students in this course will study the rise and influence on world events of the vast but inter-connected Indo-Pacific region, geo-politically, economically and militarily, examining the international connections and tensions between Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South East Asia, India, New Zealand, and China.

This course will survey the history and cultures of south Asia, including the modern regions of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the role of this region in world history, including ancient, modern and diaspora history.

Opera and Ideas explores the interrelation between Western European opera and ideas mainly through the study of major operas and music dramas from the 17th century to the 20th century. No prior musical training is necessary to succeed in this seminar. The seminar requires listening assignments, and attendance at a live opera performance.

Strategic management is the process of setting goals, procedures, and objectives in order to make a company or organization more competitive and innovative. Strategic management has a history that dates back to antiquity. Students in this course gain knowledge about strategic management and leadership by studying historical examples of successful and unsuccessful organizational strategies. This course examines the evolution of strategic management in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, but also probes the less discussed sources of strategy in the Ancient world (Greece, Rome)

This course will study the causes and the consequences of the conflicts arising from the expansion of militant Islam and the feudal states of Europe over control of the Holy Land, from the time of Mohammed to the Battle of Lepanto

This course will survey the long history of continental Africa from pre-history to modern national histories and global contexts, including geographical, social, religious, economic, and political factors.

The course will provide a study of medieval history, in terms of politics, society, economy, and culture, from the perspective of women's experience. We will study queens, writers, artists, nuns, merchants, artisans, and peasants in terms of how they were shaped by the times and in turn contributed to shaping their times.

The course will survey the range of responses among Catholic laity and Church hierarchy to the crises arising from modernization in general and from the French revolution, in particular: questions of church and state, religious freedom, educational freedom, the “social question” and the rise of revolutionary atheistic socialism. Students gain an understanding of how the pillars of Catholic Social teaching (human person, common good, solidarity, and subsidiarity) developed.

Liberal learning, study of the liberal arts, has been the hallmark of free, self-governing persons since Greek and Roman antiquity. This course will survey the meaning and relevance of liberal education as part of a flourishing human life, from the origin of the concepts to our own hyper-specialized scientific and technology-driven world of today.

Enlightenment, French Revolution and Napoleon, political and cultural revolutions of Liberalism, Romanticism, Socialism and Nationalism. Fall.

From Henry VII to Queen Anne: the Elizabethans, Civil War, Commonwealth and Restoration.

From the early explorers to the present day: the six flags over Texas, the struggle for independence, the Lone Star Republic, statehood and the creation of the “Texas Mystique.”

A study of ideas and attitudes, institutions and events in Latin America from the preconquest era to the wars for independence.

A topical examination of the history of one or more Latin American nations since independence, with a concentration on the persons, events and institutions that help to explain current developments in Latin America.

Intellectual trends and popular culture from the Gilded Age through two world wars and the turbulent 1960s.

A study of colonial origins and revolutionary results such as how Great Britain lost an empire and how Americans created the first democratic republic. This course will focus on society, politics and culture from 1607-1789. Fall, odd years.

A study of the contributing factors that help explain the coming of the Civil War, and the resulting failure of attempts to reconstruct the South along desired lines. Spring, even years.

A course that explains how the U.S. dealt with the massive transformation of society that challenged its basic values and assumptions, led to the U.S. as a world power and culminated in the reform era of the progressives. Fall, odd years.

The beginnings of Western art and thought are studied as they originate in the Aegean Bronze Age civilizations of Crete and Mycenae and developed through the Greek Classical Period.

Church history and Christian thought from apostolic times to the end of the 13th century.

Church history and Christian thought from the end of the 13th century to the present.

Irish History from the end of the reign of Elizabeth I to the recent Time of Troubles. Special emphasis on the influence of English History, the revolutions of the 18th century, the development of Irish nationalism, the emergence of an Irish nation under the leadership of de Valera and the unsettling issues in the time of troubles. Fall, even years.

To develop a deeper and more complex understanding of the interactions of economics, political, social, cultural, and military issues during the New Deal and World War II eras in American history.

Church history and Christian thought from apostolic times to the present.

After critical reading of selections from the main thinkers of the Enlightenment, from Descartes to Kant, founders of the ideological currents that lead through modernism to post-modernism, we will consider some important thinkers who have gone against the current of Enlightenment axiomatic beliefs about human nature and human fulfillment, so to speak, with alternative paradigms on the great issues confronting modernity.

This course is a survey of American diplomacy and foreign relations, major conflicts, treaties and alliances, from the colonial era to the present

Upper–division treatment of selected topics of mutual interest to faculty and students.

This course centers on the life, writings, and legacy of St. Francis of Assisi, presenting him as both a product of the extraordinary vitality of the medieval world and a decisive agent of cultural, spiritual, and social transformation. Through close reading of Francis’s own writings and early biographical sources, students will examine his radical understanding of poverty—not merely as material deprivation. Francis’s vision of fraternity, community, creation as a sign of the Creator, and evangelical life will be analyzed as responses to the profound changes reshaping medieval society. From this foundation, the course expands outward to explore the Middle Ages as a period of remarkable splendor, creativity, and innovation in theology, politics, art, and economic life. Rejecting the notion of the medieval world as static or obscure, the course presents it as a civilization in motion, shaped by demographic growth, urbanization, the birth of city-republics in northern Italy, new economic structures, and evolving forms of political organization. Particular attention is given to the social tensions generated by these transformations, including the emergence of new forms of poverty, inequality, and violence. The course examines the challenges faced by the medieval Church, including the spread of heretical movements such as Catharism, the failures and transformations of crusading ideology, and the institutional responses culminating in the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). Within this context, students will study how the Franciscan and Dominican movements, through distinct charisms, played a crucial role in renewing Christian life, re-engaging urban populations, and reshaping theology, pastoral practice, art, and economic thought. Offered during the 800th anniversary of the death of St. Francis, the course invites students at the University of St. Thomas to encounter the Middle Ages through one of its most luminous figures and to understand why Francis continues to illuminate Western culture.

A study of the major forces and figures that shaped Russian history through the Kievan, Mongol/Appanage, Moscovite and Imperial Russian periods to the mid-19th century. Fall, odd years.

Intellectual and political thought and Russian historical development from Alexander II through the collapse of the Soviet Union. Spring, even years.

Love, marriage, children, old age and death from the colonial period to the present.

Students will distinguish conflicting scholarly interpretations of major events in American, European, and World history as well as examine the nature of historical development and causation, the reasons for writing and studying history, the nature of historical evidence, “objectivity” in history, and the emergence of new subfields.

A study of the occult (astrology, divination, magical healing, necromancy, witchcraft) and its place in the development of Western civilization from late antiquity through the “witch craze” of early modern times. The practice of the occult arts will be related to the political, social and religious history of Europe. Fall, even years.

In this course students read from the founders of “history” – Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Livy, Tacitus, and Plutarch, for instance – as they explore the human condition and lessons from the past.

To gain a deeper understanding of the development of the United States military within the context of American culture and society from colonial times through the present.

A history of the attitudes the U.S. as a nation has had toward the environment and the historic forces that helped shape these attitudes. Fall, even years.

Student research on a selected problem in the field pursued under the guidance of an assigned member of the faculty. Fall, Spring.

Selected topics of mutual interest to faculty and students.