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About the Department of History, Geography, and Philosophy

My experience at CSU was wonderful. I was a student athlete on the rifle team, so my schedule was always complicated, and my teachers/advisors were always accommodating and understanding. The professors were all very knowledgeable in their subjects and encouraging. In [my current job with] Henry County, I write technical staff reports for rezonings, conditional uses, and other similar applications. I also review business licenses, sign applications, and handle special event applications for events such as 5ks and filming. Another big portion of my job with Henry County includes presenting cases before the Zoning Advisory Board and Board of Commissioners monthly.

Juli Yoder '14

The CSU History Department provided me with a foundational methodological approach that I continue to exercise to this day. The relationships I established with professors there allowed me to develop essays in a way that set me on the right track to writing and exploring larger and broader topics and theories in academia. I particularly benefitted…from the department’s encouragement to undertake history courses as a visiting student at Oxford through CSU's Center for Global Engagement. This is what ultimately led me to apply and pursue my Masters at Oxford following my graduation from CSU and continue with my doctoral research in the UK.

Katherine Hinzman '15

Since graduating from CSU, I completed a Masters in Musicology degree and a PhD in Geography from Florida State University. I decided to continue in my education by combining my passions for music, history, and GIS by working on the geography of music. Most of my research currently focuses on the ways in which women composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have composed American place and identity. I have presented on this topic at national and international conferences, and am currently working on a composition of the Hudson River. I benefitted from the support of many members of the faculty... What I learned at CSU helped me to become a better writer and communicator.

Mark Sciuchetti '13, '15

The department prepared me in more ways than I can actively remember. The most notable ways it prepared me was in requiring me to hone my public speaking skills, to learn how to thoroughly research topics, and to share what I learned in a clear and consistent manner. I work for the 65 Habitat for Humanity affiliates that operate in the state of Georgia and who serve approximately 300+ families each year with affordable housing solutions. I am responsible for fundraising, training, advocating, and providing disaster preparedness for those affiliates. At any given time, I am arranging multiple training events, administering a few grants, and engaging in advocacy efforts on a state and national level on behalf of Habitat’s mission.

Ryan Willoughby '08

My four years at CSU are something I will always cherish. Volunteering for the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) and earning a 3-year scholarship along the way made my college experience unique compared to most. Balancing being a cadet and a serious student in the history department was still a huge challenge, however, the history department worked with me to ensure I was set up for success. Majoring in history is a degree I recommend to any officer. The amount of reps of writing you receive during undergraduate will make you a well-rounded officer. Anyone can maneuver and shoot Bradleys or run fast, but writing and your ability to critically think is what can really set you apart from your peers.

Sam Desrosier '18

The Age of Revolutions combined great creative potential with devastating violence. Revolutionaries upended certain social inequalities while preserving others. In Dr. Banks‘s HIST 5100: Age of Revolutions class, students compare and contrast the American, French, Haitian, and Latin American Revolutions and explore the ways that issues of gender, religion, class, race, and empire shaped the goals of revolutionaries.

Dr. Bryan Banks

The military is one of the most significant institutions in U.S. culture, and yet only .5% of Americans serve in it. In HIST 3146: Intro to US Military History, students examine its history, the wars that it has fought, and its place in the larger society of which it is a part. What should the relationship between the military and the nation be during times of war and peace? How have Americans, including service members and veterans, sought to define the military‘s place in American culture?.

Dr. David Kieran

As early as 1523, Africans stepped foot on North American soil as explorers and soldiers who helped shape the colonizing projects of European kingdoms. Their legacy did not stop there - Africans and African Americans participated in colonial militias and fought in every major conflict from the American Revolution to the War on Terror. Dr. Newhall's course, The Black Military Experience 1523-2022, examines the significant impact of Africans and African Americans through their legacy of military service in North America.

Dr. Caroline Newhall

What really is the "American South?" How do we define it? What makes the South culturally unique within modern America? You'll find these questions are harder to answer than you might imagine in Dr. Sprayberry’s HIST 5111: New South.

Dr. Gary Sprayberry

The last two centuries have seen the United States exert significant influence – political, economic, and cultural – over the diverse nations and people that make up Latin America. That influence has been deeply affective, but works in both directions. Explore the history and impact of these cross-American relationships in Dr. Tompson’s HIST 3137: Latin America and the United States course.

Dr. Doug Tompson