Pierce College Program Review
Approved by the Pierce College Academic Senate November 17, 2008
Department or Discipline:
Date submitted:
Contact person:
History and Humanities
October 15, 2009
Eugene Larson, Chair
Pierce College Program Review is intended to be a reflective process that builds
on the extensive information gathered for the Annual Academic Program Plans
and lays out the program’s major directions for the future.
I. Purpose of the Program
Describe the need that is met by the program. For CATE programs only, show
that “the program does not represent an unnecessary duplication of other
vocational or occupational training programs in the area.” (Place your response
in the expandable text box below.)
The Department of History and Humanities is meeting the Pierce College and the
Los Angeles College District’s mission statements by its many curriculum
offerings. Pierce’s diverse student body has access to multiple sections of most
courses, which enables students to easily meet their transfer and AA
requirements.
Pierce College’s History and Humanities Department unites two disciplines
essential to the acquisition of a comprehensive liberal arts education. In this
modern world, where an individual can and should expect to change fields of
employment several times in his/her lifetime, the role of the liberal arts has
become increasingly important in creating an area of common knowledge among
a population of people from ever more diverse backgrounds, both culturally and
geographically. The history and humanities courses offered by the department
allow students to develop a framework on which to organize the knowledge they
acquire in other disciplines as isolated pieces of information, and use that
collection of information to analyze just how human beings got to the point at
which we are today. History in particular creates a context that allows student to
gain an understanding of world problems, of the strengths and weaknesses of
the United States, of their own family’s background, and of the person they
themselves are.
Many of the history courses the department offers fulfill transfer requirements for
both the California State University and the University of California systems, and
though, like most of the social science and humanities departments at Pierce
College, there is no formal major in history, many of our students who transfer to
Pierce College Program Review Template, Approved September 2008
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four-year colleges and universities do major in history. (Students use humanities
course primarily as electives.) Whether for majors or non-majors, the
department’s goal is to create in our students an interest in history and the
human creativity shown in humanities, and an awareness of why such an interest
will make for a more satisfying and complete life. Our intent is that our students
will become life-long learners who realize that history is the story of humanity and
not simply a collection of names and dates that are to be memorized, then
forgotten. The department’s faculty take very seriously their roles as mentors for
students, and all five full-time department members are readily available to give
students advice and guidance as requested, whether it involves subject matter,
the choice of a transfer university, or other academic issues. We offer a variety
of approaches in our courses, ranging from Power-Point presentations to
traditional lectures, so every student has the opportunity to choose an instructor
whose teaching approach will suit that student’s particular learning style and
desired focus.
II. Progress Made Toward Past Departmental/Discipline Goals
Summarize the progress the department/discipline has made toward achieving
its goals during the past six years. Discuss briefly the quality, effectiveness, and
strengths of the program as reflected in its Annual Academic Program Plans.
Show the relationship between the program goals, the mission of the college, the
district strategic plan, and the impact on student development. (Place your
summary in the expandable text box below.)
The History and Humanities Department continues to meet the needs of Pierce
College students, both those transferring to four-year universities and colleges as
well as students desiring an Associate of Arts degree. At least one course in
American history must be satisfactorily completed by all students, both transfer
and AA alike, to satisfactorily complete the state of California’s American
Institutions requirement, which is satisfied by many of the department’s courses
including History 11, 12, 13, 41, 42, 43, 44, and 52.
Western Civilization has long been a preferred course for transfer students, and
History 1 and History 2 have fulfilled this need. However, more and more fouryear colleges and universities are requiring World Civilization, and the
department is meeting this need, in part because of the tenured position it
obtained in the 2008 academic year.
In addition to the above survey courses, the department offers a wide range of
other courses that cover such diverse subjects as Latin American history, British
history, African history, and Middle Eastern history. Unfortunately the present
economic situation has forced the department to temporarily reduce those
elective offerings, e.g. English history and the history of the Middle East,
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although the intention is to again offer those popular courses when resources are
again available.
At present there are five full-time instructors, of which one is probationary. An
additional probationary position was authorized this past year, but was cancelled
because of unforeseen difficulties. It is hoped that in the near future that position
will once again be authorized.
There are approximately twenty adjunct instructors teaching in the department. In
Fall 2008, 42.3% of program hours were taught by full-time faculty.
There are only two regularly offered humanities courses, primarily due to lack of
budget as well as the relatively small number of students majoring specifically in
Humanities at the BA and MA levels. In addition to humanities courses
administered through the History and Humanities Department, humanities
courses, as well as history courses, are offered through PACE, the college’s
Honors Program and Outreach.
By the end of the Fall 2009 semester, Student Learning Outcomes will be in
place in all sections of History 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 41, 43, 52, and 86, as
as well as Humanities 6 and Humanities 60, as will assessment criteria. The only
history courses that are yet to be assessed are courses which are only taught in
the spring semester, and those courses will participate in the SLO assessment in
Spring 2010.
All Course Outlines of Record in history are current. Of the department’s two
humanities courses, Humanities 61 is current, Humanities 6 is not, but the COR
for that course will be submitted to the college’s Curriculum Committee before
the end of the Fall 2009 semester.
III. Trend Analyses/Outlook
Using the information already gathered in the AAPPs (e.g., enrollment and
outcomes data; student learning outcomes assessment and analysis; input by
advisory boards; existing articulation agreements; labor market trends; and
insights gained from conferences, journals, and discussions with colleagues),
summarize the major trends, challenges, and opportunities that have emerged in
the discipline since the last program review.
As applicable, please address the breadth, depth, currency, and cohesiveness of
the curriculum in relation to evolving employer needs and/or transfer
requirements, as well as other important pedagogical or technology-related
developments. (Place your summaries in the expandable text box below.)
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Given the severe financial constraints which have affected most institutions of
higher education in California in recent years, the History and Humanities
Department has largely fulfilled its goals as set down in the 2003 Program
Review. The department offers courses reflecting the changing demographics of
the college, including courses in Middle Eastern history, Mexican-American
history and African-American history. Enrollment, retention, and completion
remain high in all courses, including double-sections of History 11 and 52. (See
Section II.) That the department’s faculty is meeting and exceeding expectations
is reflected in the high Student Learning Outcome scores from all history and
humanities courses, some going back several semesters.
The faculty has kept up with current trends in education through many means. As
many of our students transfer to the University of California Los Angeles and
California State University Northridge, dialogs have been developed between the
Pierce history faculty and the history faculties at CSUN and UCLA. This has
allowed the faculty to maintain cognizance of the standards and requirements
that the four-year schools expect in their lower division courses to advise current
Pierce students as they prepare for upper division work when they transfer to a
university. For example, in Spring 2009, several members of the Pierce History
Department participated in the Tri-Valley Alliance meeting at California State
University Northridge, at which such matters were the focus.
Department members regularly attend other historical associations conventions
and conference, both as observers and participants, including the American
Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians, and Envisioning
California. Recently, two members of the faculty attended the Historic Natchez
Conference, where one department member was a keynote speaker. As an
indication of the department’s teaching successes, at that conference a paper
was delivered by a former Pierce student, now a student at California State
University Northridge.
The department members are a reading faculty, committed to keeping up with
the newest scholarship in the field. Historical monographs, professional journals,
and other domestic and international publications are constantly read and
shared, both for professional interest and of course for personal enjoyment.
Relevant articles from various publications are made available to the faculty by
the department chair and others through email and other means.
Despite the financial constraints which have kept our classrooms from being
modernized up until now, many members of the department employ Power-Point
and other technologies in the classroom. With the major renovationmodernization project now taking place on campus, It is anticipated that in the
new classrooms, which the department is scheduled to move into in a year or
two, built-in technology will make the utilization of modern technology much
easier. History and History 11 have been offered as distanced-education hybrid
courses for several semesters, and currently those two courses, as well as
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History 13, are being modified to be taught as full-online courses, thus helping to
fulfill the college’s goal of offering a complete AA degree online.
IV. Long-Term Department/Discipline Goals and Action Plans (Aligned With
the College Educational Master Plan)
Describe the long-term plans for changing or developing new courses and
programs, other actions being taken to enhance student success, and the need
for professional development activities and other resources to implement
program goals.
The History Department anticipates imminent completion of its project to offer
History 1, 11 and 13 online. This project will provide flexibility for students that
seek either a transfer to a four-year institution or an AA degree. These three
courses are among the most popular in the department in that they satisfy the
general education requirement.
The number of courses assessing SLOs continues to expand within the
department, with the SLO assessment of all courses regularly offered by the
department achieved by the Spring 2010 semester. Our success in this area is
due in large part to the inclusion of numerous instructors (adjunct and full-time)
who have stepped forward to volunteer their services and take an active role in
this process.
Despite a down year as it relates to the budget, the department is making plans
to add new courses in the history of Russia and military history as well as
expanding the number of World Civilization offerings in anticipation for an
improved economy. While there are not funds available to offer these new
courses at present, we are hopeful that the current economic restrictions will not
be in place for much longer. When times improve, we plan to be ready.
Currently, the department is engaged in consultations with the Curriculum Chair
to change the Women’s Studies certificate program into new “area of emphasis”.
We anticipate the process to be completed by the end of the Fall 2009 semester.
Adding full-time faculty members is a priority of the History and Humanities
Department. We hope this goal will be realized once the budgetary situation
within the district improves in light of the fact that three of the five full-time faculty
are of retirement age. It would be a departmental disaster if all three decide to
retire at the same time.