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Inspired by St. Mary's University's mission to shape students dedicated to building morally-responsible human communities, the History Department is committed to offering history majors and all history students an enlightened understanding of human cultures through time. We strive to produce professional individuals who identify themselves with a present which is profoundly linked to cultures and civilizations of the past, and citizens who are committed to advancing the welfare of their communities and, indeed, the world.
Learning Goals for History Majors:
Chaminade Tower 504
(210) 436-3703
gpoyo@stmarytx.edu
Learning Goals for History Majors:
- Learn historical narratives, chronologies, and watershed moments in at least two fields of historical knowledge.
- Become familiar with historical method, with emphasis on the roles of historiography, evidence and interpretation when analyzing history.
- Learn to write primary evidence-based historical essays and research papers.
- Gain an awareness of humanity's historical struggle to advance the welfare of their communities, including accomplishments and limitations.
- Learn to be professionals prepared to enter graduate studies, law school, or the world of work.
Contact Us
Gerald E. Poyo, Ph.D., ChairChaminade Tower 504
(210) 436-3703
gpoyo@stmarytx.edu
Overview
The sacred and the secular, the public and the private, all draw on historical understanding. Religion is history; every presidential address refers to history; policy decisions and court cases are shaped by history; military commitments are evaluated in terms of history; family reunions celebrate shared history. History is a disciplined form of memory that we depend upon to make sense of human experience.Careers
History is also a field of inquiry necessary for the rewarding professions and careers that St. Mary's students seek. History majors go on to pursue careers in the full range of professions including law, medicine, military, politics, education, journalism, international relations, and business. Historical study hones skills of critical thinking, reading, writing and analysis that give our students advantages in any competitive field of their choice.The Student Conservation Association hosts environmental interships nationwide where you can get hands on experience in the field while giving back something to the world. To learn more, visit the Conservation Internships page on their website.
Courses:
The History Department is committed to guiding students on the great adventure of historical discovery. Our courses attract majors from all four schools at St. Mary's. While learning history, students simultaneously get excellent training in writing, analysis, and oral presentation to support them in their professional goals. Collectively, our history faculty brings over 100 years of college teaching experience to support students. All of our faculty members are accomplished scholars and teachers. Students can count on the close coaching of top professionals through every stage of analysis and writing.Celebration:
Open communication and access are great strengths of our department. Recently, students have marveled that history professors give home phone numbers, help fund student travel to conferences, bake cakes during final exam period, sponsor "Capture the Flag" tournaments on Saturday
, participate in the University competition for best "Dia de los Muertos" celebration (and we won!), meet with students even during winter and summer breaks to coach them individually on research projects and graduate school applications, play the roles of Cleopatra and B. F. Skinner in a public performance, and much more. (See our Department Facebook page for photos of these exciting events.) Our students become adept at using academic technology, which permits them close communication with professors and peers, and trains them in skills that appeal to employers. Our open approach also encourages students to remain part of our History Department community even after they graduate.
Research Support:
Undergraduate research is fundamental to the History Department's commitment to helping St. Mary's University fulfill its mission. Our majors produce excellent capstone research projects that serve to launch their careers. Seniors present their research at professional conferences and research symposia. In the past two years our seniors have presented their thesis research at conferences in San Diego and Denver and they're bound for Las Vegas in Spring 2011. Thanks to support from the Dean of HSS, from St. Mary's Office of Undergraduate Research, and from the History Department these seniors were able to secure full funding for their first conference experience. Student research also serves as the writing sample required by top graduate programs all over the country and beyond. Recent graduate program acceptances include the University of British Columbia, University of Alabama, Dartmouth University, Texas A&M, and others. Research and conference presentations are not just for seniors. One of our first-year students recently presented at a local San Antonio conference, then parlayed that experience into a candidacy for the Gilman fellowship to study abroad in London. She won it. We also help students secure summer research funding and opportunities. One of our majors won the prestigious St. Mary's University Summer Research Fellowship for summer 2009, and three of our students have been named McNair Scholars in the past two summers. Even our non-majors enjoy opportunities to present their history projects at conferences. A theology major in one of our upper division history courses had his history project accepted at the Undergraduate Research Conference at the University of Houston-Clear Lake in spring 2009.Community Outreach:
St. Mary's University also takes to heart its mission to enrich its larger community beyond the campus. The History Department is pleased to contribute a long-standing service project to the University's larger social commitment.
Our program, "San Antonio Students Stand and Deliver" is completing its seventh year as a multifaceted outreach program to help students from under-represented populations succeed in college. The program's main initiative targets seventh grade students whom we prepare for the SAT. We tutor these young adolescents for five months so that they can take the official SAT alongside college-bound high school seniors. Some of our young pupils score high enough to qualify for TIP, an educational enrichment program sponsored by Duke University. We then support the students for the remainder of their middle school and high school careers to help them groom strong candidacies for college. We are proud to announce major successes: last year one of our "Stand and Deliver" students applied to nine universities including Ivy League schools and Stanford University. Jon-Michael Saenz was admitted to all nine universities, and received offers of full scholarships from all of them. He began attending Yale University in Fall 2009 and spent Summer 2010 in Russia. Funding from the San Antonio Area Foundation and free airfare from Southwest Airlines permit our twelve year old students to attend summer programs on college campuses as far away as North Carolina. This year the "Stand and Deliver" program expanded its outreach program to include Westlake Hills Middle School in eastside San Antonio, a new school that serves Katrina refugees. We also expanded to serve the Young Women's Leadership Academy, the first all-girls' school in the San Antonio Independent School District. Student-teaching this year at Rhodes Middle School, where our program began, was one of our senior History majors. The History Department delights in helping link students from westside and eastside to St. Mary's University. Their parents thank St. Mary's University for helping support their children's dreams of attending college.
Our invitation to you
All realms of the human endeavor are nourished by deep historical roots. To cultivate these roots is to strengthen ourselves professionally and personally. History holds the key for recovering complex identities and embracing our full human heritage. St. Mary's University invites all students to discover the wealth of our history. The History faculty welcomes all levels of engagement with historical inquiry and with the robust community centered around the History Department. For information on taking a history course, earning a concentration or minor in history, majoring in history, or taking history as a double major, please feel free to visit our department on the fifth floor of Chaminade Tower or email us at tvanhoy@stmarytx.edu. Indeed, you have an open invitation to join us at "History Student Coffee and Cake Hour", the first Wednesday of every month during the regular school year, 12-1 p.m. in the History Department. Come find out what historians know, love, and do. We share the conviction common in many cultures that in order to go forward, we must go back.Bachelor of Arts in History
Option 1: History Thesis Program. Students selecting this option are required to complete a History Thesis for which a tripartite series of courses has been designed to teach and hone the skills necessary for excellence in undergraduate research in history. The History Thesis constitutes the heart of their history undergraduate program since it requires students to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during their years at St. Mary's. The History Thesis permits students to demonstrate proficiency in the fundamental skills of the historian: research, writing, interpretation and critical thinking. Most students in the History Thesis are expected to take Historical Research, Writing and Method during fall semester of their junior year. This course is designed to instruct students in historiography, historical research, writing and method. In this course students will also identify a topic for their senior thesis and begin their research. Students continue their research under the guidance of a faculty mentor during spring semester of their junior year. Fall semester of their senior year, senior history majors enroll in the Senior Thesis writing lab to conceptualize their projects, hone interpretations, draft the entire manuscript, and train for conference presentation of their findings. Students enroll in the History Thesis course in the final semester of their senior year to revise their manuscripts extensively and to professionalize their candidacies for employment and graduate programs.Option 2: Teacher Certification Program. Students in this program are not required to take the new final courses devoted to the senior thesis. History students should speak with the chair of the History department or the chair of the Teacher Education department about the general requirements for a major in History with Teacher Certification. Specific questions and concerns about the Teacher Education program should be directed to the Teacher Education Department. For more information, please see the degree plans and course catalog.
Minor
A minor in history gives any student an understanding of how history affects the present.For more information, please see the degree plans and course catalog.
O'Connor Chair
Endowed in 1982 by the Thomas O'Connor family of Victory, Texas, the O'Connor Chair in the Study of Hispanic Texas and the Southwest hosts a visiting research professor at St. Mary's University. During his/her tenure, the O'Connor Professor teaches one course per semester, conducts research, writes and offers periodic lectures to the University and surrounding community. Besides contributing to scholarly knowledge on the history of Hispanic Texas and the Southwest, O'Connor Chair occupants also provide St. Mary's students, especially history majors, the opportunity to interact with an active research historian working on a specific ongoing project. This is of particular value for students writing Senior Theses and those interested in pursuing graduate studies in history.Faculty
Daniel W. Bjork, Ph.D.
Professor of HistoryOffice: Chaminade Tower, Rm. 501
Phone: (210) 436-3704
Email: dbjork@stmarytx.edu
Full Bio Details
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 1973
M.A., University of Toledo, 1964
B.Ed., University of Toledo, 1963
Daniel Bjork is a native of Milwaukee, Wis. He specializes in United States intellectual and cultural history. Before coming to St. Mary's in 1991, Bjork taught at Southeast Missouri University, the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the University Detroit-Mercy. He offers courses in various periods of United States history including American Revolution, the Age of Jackson, the Civil War, and United States intellectual history and biography. Bjork is currently the faculty advisor for the St. Mary's Chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society, as well as the History Club. He is the author of four books, including major biographies of philosopher/psychologist William James and the behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner. He teaches all phases of United States history and has developed special topics courses in American biography, including ones on notable entrpreneurs and notorious criminals. Bjork chaired the History Deparment in the 1990s.
M.A., University of Toledo, 1964
B.Ed., University of Toledo, 1963
Daniel Bjork is a native of Milwaukee, Wis. He specializes in United States intellectual and cultural history. Before coming to St. Mary's in 1991, Bjork taught at Southeast Missouri University, the University of Alabama in Birmingham and the University Detroit-Mercy. He offers courses in various periods of United States history including American Revolution, the Age of Jackson, the Civil War, and United States intellectual history and biography. Bjork is currently the faculty advisor for the St. Mary's Chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta national history honor society, as well as the History Club. He is the author of four books, including major biographies of philosopher/psychologist William James and the behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner. He teaches all phases of United States history and has developed special topics courses in American biography, including ones on notable entrpreneurs and notorious criminals. Bjork chaired the History Deparment in the 1990s.
Aaron Moreno, Ph.D.
FacultyOffice: Chaminade Tower, Room 506
Phone: 210-436-3313
Email: amoreno28@stmarytx.edu
Full Bio Details
Doctoral Degree, University of California, Los Angeles, 2012
Master of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
Bachelor of Arts, Brown University, 2003
Master of Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
Bachelor of Arts, Brown University, 2003
Aaron Moreno was raised in small town south Georgia and matriculated at Brown University with plans to become a Doctor of Medicine. After a few years, however, he realized that his true passion lay in medieval history, and he subsequently received his Doctoral Degree from UCLA.
Aaron's research interests are centered in the medieval Mediterranean, particularly the history of the Christian communities living in lands formerly controlled by various Muslim powers such as the indigenous Christians of Iberia, Sicily, and the Crusader States.
Fortunately, his research has required that he visit the archives of Spain, Italy, Portugal, and the Netherlands. Aaron also has presented his work at conferences of several historical organizations, such as the American Historical Association, the Medieval Academy, and the Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies.
His monograph-in-progress, Languages, Privileges, and Liturgies in the Medieval Mediterranean: The Mozarab, Greek, and Arabic Christians of Castile and Sicily (1100-1500), examines the identity ascriptions and re-orientations of Mozarabs (Christians with lineal roots in Muslim-ruled Iberia) and the indigenous Arabic/Greek Christian communities of Sicily in the generations following their respective regions sudden shift from Muslim to Latinate control in the late eleventh century.
Aaron enjoys teaching several courses related to medieval through modern Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.Additional information can be found at http://stmarytx.academia.edu/AaronMoreno/About
Gerald E. Poyo, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair of HistoryOffice: Chaminade Tower, Rm. 504
Phone: (210) 436-3703
Email: gpoyo@stmarytx.edu
Full Bio Details
Ph.D., University of Florida, 1983
M.A., University of Texas, 1975
B.A., University of South Carolina, 1972
Born in New Jersey, Gerald E. Poyo grew up in Bogot , Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a graduate student he studied Latin American and U.S. Latino history. He worked as a research associate and curator at the University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio before taking a faculty position at Florida International University in Miami in 1990. From 1992-1996 he occupied the O'Connor Chair in the Study of Spanish Colonial Texas and the Southwest at St. Mary's University and then accepted a position in the Department of History. Poyo is currently Chair of the History Department and teaches courses in colonial and modern Latin American history as well as U.S. ethnic and immigration history and the history of Latino communities in the United States.
Born in New Jersey, Gerald E. Poyo grew up in Bogot , Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. As a graduate student he studied Latin American and U.S. Latino history. He worked as a research associate and curator at the University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio before taking a faculty position at Florida International University in Miami in 1990. From 1992-1996 he occupied the O'Connor Chair in the Study of Spanish Colonial Texas and the Southwest at St. Mary's University and then accepted a position in the Department of History. Poyo is currently Chair of the History Department and teaches courses in colonial and modern Latin American history as well as U.S. ethnic and immigration history and the history of Latino communities in the United States.
Bradley W. Root, Ph.D.
FacultyOffice: Chaminade Tower Rm. 502
Phone: (210) 431-8081
Email: broot@stmarytx.edu Full Bio Details
Ph.D., University of California, San Diego, 2009
M.A., University of California, San Diego, 2006
B.A., University of California, San Diego, 2002
Born in Michigan, Bradley W. Root grew up in Dallas and did his graduate and undergraduate work at the University of California, San Diego. He is a specialist in ancient history, and his research interests focus on early Christianity and ancient Judaism. He teaches courses on world history, ancient history, the history of Christianity, the Middle Ages, and modern Europe.
M.A., University of California, San Diego, 2006
B.A., University of California, San Diego, 2002
Born in Michigan, Bradley W. Root grew up in Dallas and did his graduate and undergraduate work at the University of California, San Diego. He is a specialist in ancient history, and his research interests focus on early Christianity and ancient Judaism. He teaches courses on world history, ancient history, the history of Christianity, the Middle Ages, and modern Europe.
Teresa Van Hoy, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of HistoryOffice: Chaminade Tower, Rm. 504
Phone: (210) 436-3608
Email: tvanhoy@stmarytx.edu
Full Bio Details
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 2000
M.A., Wesleyan University, 1991
B.A., Wesleyan University, 1983
Teresa Van Hoy is Associate Professor of History. She is a native of North Carolina. After finishing her doctoral degree at University of Texas at Austin, Van Hoy accepted a position at University of Houston-Clear Lake where she attained the rank of Associate Professor and served two terms as Chair of Women's Studies. She came to St. Mary's in August 2007 where she teaches courses in modern U.S. history, history of women, and Texas history, among others. Van Hoy is accomplished in the use of technology in her teaching. During Summer 2007 she won a national competition sponsored by Blackboard, Inc. for her on-line course design. Long-committed to activism in the Latino/a community, she founded and directs "San Antonio Students Stand and Deliver," an educational enrichment program now hosted at St. Mary's University. She also works with "Latinas for a Cure" to focus attention on the disparity of breast cancer mortality suffered by women of color. Van Hoy created a website that features two podcasts a lecture at Beijing Women's University on the race politics of breast cancer and another from the Blackboard course.
M.A., Wesleyan University, 1991
B.A., Wesleyan University, 1983
Teresa Van Hoy is Associate Professor of History. She is a native of North Carolina. After finishing her doctoral degree at University of Texas at Austin, Van Hoy accepted a position at University of Houston-Clear Lake where she attained the rank of Associate Professor and served two terms as Chair of Women's Studies. She came to St. Mary's in August 2007 where she teaches courses in modern U.S. history, history of women, and Texas history, among others. Van Hoy is accomplished in the use of technology in her teaching. During Summer 2007 she won a national competition sponsored by Blackboard, Inc. for her on-line course design. Long-committed to activism in the Latino/a community, she founded and directs "San Antonio Students Stand and Deliver," an educational enrichment program now hosted at St. Mary's University. She also works with "Latinas for a Cure" to focus attention on the disparity of breast cancer mortality suffered by women of color. Van Hoy created a website that features two podcasts a lecture at Beijing Women's University on the race politics of breast cancer and another from the Blackboard course.
