Course Description:
The study of history helps us to not only better understand the people and places of the past but also to better understand ourselves. Historians use a range of evidence and skills to understand the people of the past on their own terms. We will ask how peoples’ choices long ago shape the world we live in today. How did things come to be the way they are? What are the historical roots of our cultural beliefs and values? Historians often approach these questions by telling stories about people. The natural world, however, has played an important role in shaping the world we inhabit today. The primary goal of this course is to explore the links between human history and natural history.

This course is an introduction to the field of environmental history. We will move chronologically and topically through important periods and issues in the emerging field of environmental history. This course is not a comprehensive study of the field or U.S. history; neither is it a history of the environmental movement. Broadly, environmental history examines the relationship between people and the natural world and how that relationship has changed over time. Geographically, this course focuses largely on the area now bounded by the continental United States. Some topics extend into modern day Canada and Mexico, while others are global. As we will see, one of the interesting things about the study of environmental history is its ability to bring seemingly distant places into its stories. 

Click here for complete sample syllabus (pdf.).

Below is the Soundtrack for this course:

Arkansas History


Course Description:
This course examines the history of Arkansas from the 1500s to the present.  We will explore Arkansas’s place in the world, the compelling stories in its past, and its most important events and people.  The course is arranged chronologically, but we will also engage some topics and themes out of their historical sequence.  We will examine Arkansas’ complicated past, from Native American histories to famous Arkansans on the national political stage.  We will examine the state’s role in national events and issues (exploration, the Civil War and Reconstruction, segregation and the Civil Rights Movement).  We will also explore how political and economic forces have shaped the lives of Arkansans.

This course will introduce students to the basics of conducting historical research on-line as well as in libraries and archives.  We will also engage in historical analysis using music, film, oral histories, and archival documents.  We will explore primary and secondary sources.  Through lectures, reading material, in-class discussions, and written assignments this course will attempt to survey the state and its peoples over time and give students the skills to gather, analyze, and deploy information about the past.

Course Syllabus for Arkansas History (pdf).