1 California State University, Fullerton College of Humanities and Social Sciences DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY PROGRAM PERFORMANCE REVIEW 2012 SELF-STUDY November 10, 2012 CONTENTS AND ELEMENTS OF THE SELF-STUDY I. Department Mission, Goals, and Environment 2 II. Department Description and Analysis 6 III. Documentation of Student Academic Achievement and Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes 15 IV. Faculty 21 V. Student Support and Advising 23 VI. Resources and Facilities 25 VII. Long-Term Plans 28 VIII. Appendices 31 2 I. DEPARTMENT MISSION, GOALS, AND ENVIRONMENT A. Briefly describe the mission and goals of the unit and identify any changes since the last program review. Review the goals in relation to the university mission, goals, and strategies. The mission of the Department of History is to cultivate among our students a broad and critical knowledge and understanding of past societies and civilizations. We seek to provide our students with opportunities to critically engage issues of politics, culture, ethnicity, gender, and the environment in a historical context, and to provide educational experiences that promote a global perspective. Although grounded in a deep study of the past, History students will develop key skills in critical reading, analytical thinking, sophisticated research, and effective written and oral communication that will allow them to contribute to their chosen profession, their communities, and to society as a whole. As a department, we believe that our students can only meet these goals within the context of a rich, collaborative, and diverse learning community. For this reason, faculty members are encouraged to pursue active research agendas that not only enhance teaching but also contribute to a lively intellectual environment on campus and in the community. B. Briefly describe changes and trends in the discipline and the response of the unit to such changes. Identify if there have been external factors that impact the program (community/regional needs, placement, and graduate/professional school). The department remains committed to ensuring that it is at the forefront of the discipline of History. We regularly revisit our list of desired future hires and restructure it in accordance with developing trends. For example, we responded to the increasing interest in Public and Oral History by hiring two public historians in 2007 (Drs. Cawthra and Rast) and one in 2012 (Dr. Brown-Coronel who will join us in 2013). In addition the department has devoted considerable resources to further developing the Center for Oral and Public History (COPH) which is closely connected to the department and administered by History faculty members, including Dr. Fousekis, the Director of COPH. Energetic efforts on the part of Dr. Fousekis and the members of the COPH board have raised the Center’s profile and outreach, making it a premier hub for Oral History research on the West Coast and, most importantly, a highly effective teaching/training and research/resource laboratory for many undergraduates and graduate students in the department. COPH also provides a focal point for the department’s interaction with the community, sponsoring a wide range of events, such as a speech by U.S. Representative and Civil Rights icon John Lewis in 2012, and the annual Hansen and Rietveld lectures that foster relations between the campus and the wider community. In addition, the department is working actively to develop expertise in the new and significant field of History and New Media. This position would be part of the department’s ongoing efforts to improve the professional capabilities of both undergraduate and graduate students. The department already offers an unusual range of professional courses and opportunities, including HIST 494, History and Editing, HIST 498 and 598, History Internship, and HIST 492C, Practicum in Public History. The department has made a concentrated effort to recruit candidates with this capability during recent searches, but has not yet been successful. As a result, the department has voted to prioritize a hire in this specialty without a preference for geographic field. However, this and other hiring needs are at great risk due to the uncertain budgetary climate, the as-yet-to-be-determined priorities of the new campus president, and the impending loss of key faculty members to retirement (Drs. Bakken and Haddad) or relocation (Dr. Rast). Over the past two decades, the field of History has increasingly emphasized a global, rather than Western or U.S. focused perspective. The CSUF Department of History has long been a leader in the 3 teaching of World, Global, and Comparative History and understands that one of its primary purposes is to provide students in the General Education (G.E.) program, as well as History majors and minors with “experiences in and out of the classroom that attend to issues of culture, ethnicity and gender and promote a global perspective.” This is one of the primary goals of California State University, Fullerton, according to its Mission Statement. Since 2004, the department has hired 16 new faculty members to replace the founding members of the department as they retired. In the process, the department demonstrated its firm commitment to World, Global, and Comparative History by hiring faculty members with areas of expertise that directly enhance our ability to teach in these fields at all levels. The department has hired two historians of China (Drs. Markley and Tran), two historians of the Middle East (Drs. Mikhail and Rostam-Kolayi), a historian of Eastern Europe (Dr. Jobbitt), and a historian of modern Mexico (Dr. Neufeld). In addition, we have made concerted efforts to integrate U.S. History into our World History curriculum by redefining a U.S. Foreign Policy position into a U.S. and the World post (Dr. Burlingham), and prioritizing a hire in U.S. Borderlands (Dr. Brown-Coronel). Tenured and tenure- track faculty members teach World, Global, and Comparative History at all levels, from general education World Civilizations courses to advanced graduate seminars. In addition, the department supports and encourages the integration of faculty research, teaching, and public engagement in World History. For example, Dr. Markley’s ambitious research project on the History of Grass is fully integrated into his HIST 110A course, which introduces mostly non-History majors to the Big History paradigm, while Dr. Jobbitt’s course on Genocide (HIST 411B) has led to a community based Public History and Internship Project in Genocide Preclusion. One basic fact shaping the development of the History Department since 2004 has been the university’s increasing awareness of its responsibilities as a Hispanic Serving Institution. The History Department and its faculty members devote considerable resources to meeting the needs of both Hispanic and non-Hispanic students. Several faculty members (Drs. Burgtorf and Rast) have played key leadership roles in the development and administration of the EPOCHS program (Enhancing Postbaccalaureate Opportunities at Cal State Fullerton for Hispanic Students), while others have served as faculty mentors to students within the program (Drs. Brunelle, Neufeld, Rast, and Sargeant). Student and faculty-curated Public History exhibits at the Fullerton Arboretum (New Birth of Freedom: Civil War to Civil Rights in California, Dr. Cawthra) and the old Santa Ana County Courthouse (A Class Action: The Grassroots Struggle for School Desegregation in California, Dr. Rast) have strengthened the department’s connections with the local Hispanic community, as have the community service activities of some faculty members (Advance!...on to College, Dr. Sargeant). Finally, since 2004, the department has intensified its efforts to improve the professional preparation of both undergraduate and graduate students. The department has dedicated significant resources to undergraduate and graduate internships, creating an internship coordinator position in 2006 that includes assigned time (1 course) for the faculty member. The result has been the development of new internship relationships with local, regional, and national institutions, as well as a sharp increase in the numbers of students pursuing internships. These initiatives respond not only to the desires of students for “hands-on” learning but also to the increasing awareness within the historical professional of the need to demonstrate the skills of History majors and enhance their employability (as reflected, for example, in the “Tuning Project” of the American Historical Association). C. Identify the unit’s priorities for the future. The priorities of the department for the next seven years focus on supporting and retaining our highly qualified faculty members, ensuring that both students and faculty members are able to pursue active research agendas, better preparing our students for success in their professional careers, building an effective alumni network, and protecting the faculty members’ ability to focus on curricular and 4 pedagogical development by securing assigned time for intensive service and administrative obligations. Our efforts to recruit and retain highly qualified faculty members, however, are likely to be significantly complicated by recurrent budget crises, the high cost of living in Orange County relative to faculty salaries, larger class sizes and new administrative demands (particularly the push for intensive assessment programs) that are increasing faculty workload, and inadequate university