Whatcom Community College
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History Pathway
This pathway assumes:
- You will be a full-time student.
- You will start in the fall.
- You are ready to take 100- and 200-level classes.
If not, you can still complete the pathway! You will just need to make adjustments. Talk with your advisor to customize your plan.
Follow this recommended pathway to earn the AAS/DTA degree and prepare for a university major in history or social studies education. Or you can customize your plan even more. Talk with your advisor about adapting it for your individual goals.
Scroll to the end for course suggestions.
| Description | Designed for students new to the college environment. Introduction to college services; study skills and time management; educational planning and career exploration; and skills necessary to become a successful student. Lectures, small group discussion, and experiential exercises. (UE) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Survey course covering the rise of nationalism, evolution of American lifestyles, Civil War, westward movement, and the American industrialrevolution from 1815 to World War I. (SSd) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | This course helps students become more effective writers in academic and professional settings. Students learn to enter ongoing academic conversations, analyze and use secondary sources to formulate, develop, revise, and communicate ideas in writing, and shape their message to different purposes, audiences, and media. (CC) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of ENGL 95 or placement in ENGL& 101. |
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| Description | Fundamental course in communication theory. Students will apply knowledge in variety of settings including interpersonal, public speaking, and small group communication. Recommended preparation: placement in ENGL& 101. (OC) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Introduction to communication theory and public speaking emphasizing organization, audience analysis, oral styles, and use of visual aids. Includes presentation of various types of public speeches and analyses of contemporary speeches. Recommended preparation: placement in ENGL& 101. (OC) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Introduces students to the theory and practice of small group communication. Course covers interpersonal relationships in groups, leadership, decision-making, problem solving, and presentations speaking in a variety of settings. Recommended preparation: placement in ENGL& 101. (OC) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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Total credits this quarter: 12-17
Course note: EDPL 100 is optional, but it can be very helpful if you don't have a lot of college experience. Take it with two or three of the other courses.
Career exploration: Find your people! Attend area-of-study activities and connect with clubs related to your career goals.
Action item: Meet with your advisor to build your degree plan.
Action item: Have your transfer-in credits officially evaluated.
| Description | This course examines the major events and developments in world history since 1815. Major themes will include industrialization; imperialism, resistance, and decolonization; nationalism, revolution, and state building; the growth of dominant political ideologies and mass movements; global conflict and genocide; neocolonialism; the Cold War; and human-environment interactions. (SSg) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Outlines the main structure and function of American government. Also deals with politics in theory and in practice emphasizing political concepts, protest and reform movements. (SS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Rigorous introduction to statistical methods and hypothesis testing. Includes descriptive and inferential statistics. Tabular and pictorialmethods for describing data; central tendencies; mean; modes; medians; variance; standard deviation; quartiles; regression; normal distribution; confidence intervals; hypothesis testing, one and two-tailed tests. Applications to business, social sciences, and sciences. (QSR,MS) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of MATH 088 or MATH 099 with a minimum grade of C. |
| Course Attributes |
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Total credits this quarter: 15
Career exploration: Compare the different history majors and social studies education majors at the universities you're interested in.
| Description | Survey course exploring the social, political, and economic history of the United States since World War I. (SSd) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | Introduction to geology, oceanography, and meteorology. Interaction of physical processes on earth with human affairs. Lab work included.(MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
or a HISTORY ELECTIVE from suggested list below (5 credits)
or a SOCIAL SCIENCE from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
Total credits this quarter: 15
Course note: If you plan to take a world language starting in Quarter 4, take a humanities course this quarter.
Course note: For your history elective or social science, a writing-intensive course is preferred.
Career exploration: Look for a summer job or internship related to your career goals.
Action item: Check the GPA and other entry requirements for your future major. Are you on track?
Summer
If you opted for 12 credits in Quarter 1, this might be a good time to catch up.
| Description | This course helps students become more effective communicators through the production of various forms and mediums of writing. Students develop effective rhetorical strategies through analysis of texts and contexts, as well as engaging in independent research as part of meaningful and ethical scholarship. (CC) |
| Enrollment Requirements | Completion of ENGL& 101 with a minimum grade of C-. |
| Course Attributes |
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| Description | This course is an introduction to the social, political, economic, and environmental history of the Pacific Northwest from the eighteenth century to the present. The class will focus on how a diversity of peoples lived in the region and interacted with the land, water, and natural resources in the Pacific Northwest. This course applies to the Social/Behavioral Science (SS) and diversity (d) distribution requirements. (SSd) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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or another SOCIAL SCIENCE from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
or a HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
WORLD LANGUAGE (5 credits)
or another HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
Total credits this quarter: 15
Course note: If you're taking the three-part series of a world language, you must take a non-language humanities course this quarter rather than opting for HIST& 214 or a social science.
Course note: World languages at WCC include American Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish.
Action item: Meet with your advisor about applying to universities. Start your transfer applications.
Action item: Apply for next year's financial aid.
| Description | Examines major events and processes in world history from 3500 BCE to 1300 CE, including the agricultural revolution, urbanization, and growth of major civilizations within the Mediterranean Basin/Near East, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Themes include: origins of dominant religious traditions; trade, conquest, and empire; and human-environment interactions. (SSg) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
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| Description | An exploration of the evolution of the human species from a biological perspective, considering interrelationships of biology and culture, principles of genetics, primate behavior, primate and human fossils, early prehistoric cultures, and human variation/adaptation. Lab work included. Either ANTH& 205 or 215 may be taken for credit, not both. (MSls) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
| Course Attributes |
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or a HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
Total credits this quarter: 15
Action item: Apply to graduate by week 3 of this quarter.
| Description | Formerly GEOL 135. Study of plate tectonics, ocean currents, waves, tides, the coastal ocean, marine topography, marine sediment, landforms, marine life, ocean pollution, and ocean resources. Lab work and field trips included. (MSl) |
| Enrollment Requirements | None |
| Course Attributes |
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WORLD LANGUAGE (5 credits)
or another HUMANITIES from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
HISTORY ELECTIVE from suggested list below
or a SOCIAL SCIENCE from suggested list below or click for complete list (5 credits)
Total credits this quarter: 15
Course note: Choose a writing-intensive course if you haven't taken one yet. A writing-intensive history elective is preferred.
Action item: Attend the spring job fair.
Course Suggestions
Humanities
If you plan to study a field of history other than the United States, we strongly encourage you to complete a year of world language at WCC if a language relevant to your field is available. One course from that series will count as a humanities course. Other recommended humanities:
- DRMA& 101 Intro to theatre
- FILM 101 Intro to film
- HUM& 101 Intro to the humanities (6 credits)
- PHIL& 101 Intro to philosophy
- PHIL 140 Intro to world religions
History Electives
- HIST 158 Religions of the Far East
- HIST& 214 Pacific Northwest history
- HIST& 215 Women in US history (writing-intensive)
- HIST 225 History of the modern Middle East
- HIST 240 The Holocaust (writing-intensive)
- HIST 250 American military history
- Other history course completed as a learning contract or study abroad
Social Sciences
If you plan to teach K-12 social studies, your major will include a variety of social sciences.
- EDUC& 202 Intro to education
- GEOG& 102 World regional geography
- GEOG& 200 Human geography
- POLS& 203 International relations
- PSYC& 100 General psychology
- SOC& 101 Intro to sociology
Sciences
If you plan to teach K-12 social studies, the science courses listed in the pathway above are strongly recommended.
- ASTR& 100 Survey of astronomy
- BIOL& 100 Survey of biology (lab)
- ENVS& 100 Survey of environmental science
or ENVS& 101 Intro to environmental science (lab) - GEOL 140 Natural disasters (lab)