Quality

"'Quality' and 'Integrity' have many definitions; in this context WSCUC understands them to mean a rich, coherent, and challenging educational experience, together with assurance that students consistently meet the standards of performance that the institution has set for that educational experience."

- WSCUC 2013 Handbook of Accreditation, pg 29

Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society

Many students are initiated into Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. Each year, Phi Alpha Theta students plan events such as the annual history barbecue, history brunches, and history-related social activities. Students may present their work at regional and national conferences.

Phi Alpha Theta initiation, 2022

Students presenters at the 2022 Regional Phi Alpha Theta conference

Field Trips

Pepperdine’s location near Los Angeles makes possible field trips to museums and historic sites.

Phi Alpha Theta field trip to the Reagan Library, Simi Valley

Archives and Special Collections

Many students conduct research or complete internships at the Pepperdine Boone Special Collections and Archives.

Students examining documents in the archives reading room

Student interns at in the Pepperdine archives

Internships

Many history students complete internships at museums, businesses, law firms, political organizations, and non-profits, locally and abroad.

Lauren Whittington and Xiangyi Hou interned in Washington, DC.

Jerry Grimm interned at the Wende Museum in Culver City, CA

Stefanie Bartlett interned at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello living history museum, Charlottesville, VA.

Senior thesis and Honors program

The culmination of the History major is a year-long capstone course in which students write a 20-25-page senior thesis, which they present orally at the end of the year. Some students participated in the honors program, which provides additional mentoring and leadership experiences in which they write a longer (30-35-page), original thesis to submit for publication or include in graduate school applications.

Students presenting their senior theses

Fulbright Awards

Three recent graduates have been awarded prestigious Fulbright grants to teach English abroad:

Lauren Whittington, 2022. Slovakia

Christopher Mazich, 2017. Germany

Stephanie Bartlett, 2017. Malaysia

Alumni

History alumni work in many areas, including law, education, business, medicine, finance, advertising, and non-profit work.

Jerry Grimm, 2021. Teaches world history at Santa Paula High School, Santa Paula, CA