Mission Statement

Housed in the Sociocultural Studies Department, History supports student success, completion and transfer. We strive to cultivate in students historical reasoning skills that facilitate life-long learning and that will help them to become contributing members of a diverse society.

Program Description

History is the study of how the society we live in came to be. Through contemplation and analysis of historical materials, historians interpret the past and contribute to collective memory. The Associate Degree for Transfer in History supplies students with foundational knowledge in United States and World History, as well as with an introduction to the historical inquiry process. The degree offers two of four courses required in the CSU, Chico major core program, in addition to courses approved as electives in the general history option. With successful completion of the History program, the student will be able to:
1. Identify major developments in the history of the United States and of the world, and to examine the past from diverse perspectives.
2. Apply historical reasoning to the study of the past and to think in terms of causation, context, chronology, and change and continuity.
3. Utilize historical method through posing questions and conducting research, analyzing evidence, and articulating defensible conclusions

The courses that comprise the AA-T degree are also for Butte and transfer General Education. With over eighty sections offered each school year, History serves a significant number of students and meets an array of important General Education and transfer requirements. History course offerings are complimented by 2 courses listed under the Humanities discipline title.

Currently, there are 3 full-time faculty in History who together teach 45% of History classes. 55% of courses offered in History are taught by associate faculty. This is an improvement over recent years, when 82% of History courses were taught by associate faculty. The improved ratio is due to a new full-time hire, Dillon Carroll, in Fall 2019 and the return of Christie Trolinger to a full teaching load after a few years of substantial reassign time.

Student Learning/Administrative Unit Outcomes

It was agreed at our August 2021 Institute Night meeting that a deep dive is needed on
the “historical method” SLO that appears on all of our courses (and in our degree). This particular SLO has many components: find, study, evaluate, and interpret primary and secondary sources, synthesize information, and compose arguments grounded in knowledge of the past. From the Brief Reflections, it is clear that most instructors are less than satisfied with student achievement for all elements of the SLO, and that their own instruction can be uneven for the different components. While the department highly values academic freedom, it was recognized that a clarification of department meanings and standards for this SLO would be beneficial.
We have created a two-year schedule for assessment of student achievement on the different components of this SLO.

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (Instruction Departments)

FTES - History FTES showed a significant drop of 24.31% between the 2019 and 2020 academic years. Although FTES continued to decline in 2021, the decline was much reduced at 2.48%. This closely matches the trajectory of FTES for the college overall.
Student Retention and Success - Retention rates in History have remained steady and high, hovering around 90%, despite the myriad challenges the college/students have faced in recent years. A slight dip to 84% was seen in 2020, attributable no doubt to the switch to remote instruction in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Success rates remain relatively low (below 70% in three of the five past years) compared to the college overall. Further infromation must be collected to determine contributing factors.
Conferred Awards - History does not have a certificate program and degrees awarded remain relatively flat. Further marketing may provide an opportunity for increasing the number of degrees awarded.
 

Standards/Goals for Student Achievement (All Other Departments)

Strategic Direction

Implementing Guided Pathways - A member of the department has been participating in the college's Explorer Pathway Project as the initiative gets off the ground. Once launched, additional History faculty will work collaboratively across disciplines to build and implement pathways.
Closing Equity Gaps - Faculty continue to provide as many sections as possible with free or low cost, open-source textbooks, thereby reducing costs for students.
Meeting Enrollment Targets - The department has adjusted its schedule of classes in response to growing demand for HIST 18, which satisfies both the American Institutions and Ideals requirement and the Multicultural competency for CSU.
Fostering a Culture of Inclusiveness - Dillon Carroll, our recent History hire, has taken the lead in forming a History Club. Despite obstacles created by the pandemic response, the club has continued to meet and has become a source of connection and support for students.

Program Review

History completed its most recent Program Review in May 2010, in conjunction with the Humanities and Philosophy disciplines. Of the Validation Team's ten Recommendations, eight are applicable to History/Humanities. Below is an abbreviated version of the Recommendations, with comments.

Continue and expand offerings of theme-based history classes.  *** History's experiment with theme-based classes was short-lived; the effort was abandoned after one semester. This was not due to lack of interest, though, on the part of students and instructors. Rather, there were logistical obstacles within our current systems (scheduling, classroom space, associate faculty seniority). There is hope that the Guided Pathways model under consideration by Butte College might introduce new avenues (and relevance) for theme-based history classes.
Two new full-time history instructors to replace retirement and resignations. *** We hired one full-time faculty member, Dillon Carroll, in Fall 2019.
Evaluate the placement and viability of courses in the Humanities discipline. *** All but two courses in the Humanities discipline have been deleted. The two that remain provide content in the history of Western Civilizations -- areas no longer offered in History (due to changes at the CSU) but desired by some students seeking transfer to a UC. We are currently in the process of replacing HUM 17 and HUM 22 with C-ID aligned Western Civilizations courses. Also being discussed is an Introduction to Humanities course.
Cross-list HIST 18 with MCS and reapply for HIST 18 to meet the U. S. History requirement for CSU and IGETC. *** Cross-listing of courses is now discouraged by the College's Curriculum Committee. In Fall 2017, HIST 18 was submitted to the CSU to meet the U. S. History requirement and approval has since been received.
Complete SLO assessments and Curriculum Review in the Humanities discipline. *** The Humanities curriculum is current. While assessments are conducted regularly in Humanities courses, there has not been follow through in terms of reporting of "deep dives." An easy solution to this would be to combine HUM and HIST SLO meetings and reporting.
Continue to work on assessment of PLOs. *** History did not have true PLOs back in 2010, as we didn't have a program (degree). Since then, we have implemented the AA-T in History with specific PLOs. Our PLOs are aligned with course SLOs, and PLO assessment has occur through assessments at the course level. In 2018-2019, we re-conceptualized our deep dive assessment schedule to make it more sustainable and to be more centered on PLOs.
Work with Administration to ensure adequate and appropriate work space for part-time faculty. *** At the time, associate faculty had just lost access to dedicated work space in the LRC building. Since then, offices in the MC and LRC have been designated as associate faculty offices.
Consider providing stipends for part-time faculty to help with department work. *** History had a much larger budget at the time of this Recommendation. It is no longer feasible with our existing budget. And besides, an institution-wide policy/fund for stipending associate faculty would be more appropriate and fair.

Department Goals

Curriculum Review
Rearrange desks in LRC 142

Future Development Strategies

Requested Non-Financial Resources

Current Financial Resources