History Department

Why Study History at Fisher?

The Department of History at St. John Fisher College offers a rich and exciting curriculum which examines the issues, ideas, people, and events that gave rise to the world's major civilizations. Students are challenged to unravel the complex and often conflicting interpretations of individual historians or schools of historiographical thought. By shifting back and forth between the particular and the general - and understanding the bond between the two - a basis is established for comprehending the relationship among social evolution, economic and technological development, political conflict, and cultural change.

The Department offers courses that incorporate this methodology across a wide spectrum of time and geography. In doing this, they utilize:

• An international perspective that casts the widest possible coverage of how events and issues in one nation or culture have influenced those of another.
• An examination of conflicting theories or interpretations that provide students with the opportunity to draw their own conclusions regarding major issues.
• Encouragement for students to make assertions and arrive at judgments regarding the human and moral implications of actions, events, and ideas.

The Study of History

History is the record of civilization. In the broadest sense, it is all that has ever happened. It is both the record of events and the events themselves.

As an academic discipline, it is a chronicle of the human experience from the beginning of written time to the present.

The study of history introduces students to those larger forces of change which have given form and substance to the modern world. It provides an understanding of the present by imposing order on the chaos of the past. In its most speculative form, history also gives an indication of the future. The past is often prologue. It helps students realize that while life is lived forward, it is understood backwards.