Connecting History: Our Discipline’s Role in an Interdisciplinary Liberal Arts Core

In 2003, Wheaton College launched a new general education curriculum that featured a signature initiative called “Connections.” Connections requires that students study a topic, theme, or problem in an interdisciplinary way. They do so by taking two Connections of two courses each or one Connection in which they must take three linked courses. Students may complete Connections that faculty have already established or write a proposal to create their own Connection(s). Any two-course Connection must link courses from at least two different areas, while a three-course Connection must link courses from three areas: Creative Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Math/Computer Science, and History. This means that history stands apart in the Wheaton Connections curriculum as the only discipline that constitutes a separate area of study and inquiry. Not surprisingly, this makes history the best represented discipline in Connections offerings. Data indicate that some 40% of recent graduates took at least one history course to complete a Connection. This presentation will address the role that history plays in Connections and assess the impact that Connections has had on how we teach the discipline of history at Wheaton.