topics of interest. History teaches students how ideas, institutions, and paradigms develop and mutate over long periods of time and how to organize material into coherent chronological patterns which make sense of seemingly random events. Skills in critical analysis are the product of reading, writing, and discussion, upon which the historical method is based. In the first two years the history major enrolls in several survey courses which provide an overview of American, European, Middle Eastern, and Asian history and which introduce basic writing and thinking skills. As an upper division student, the history major begins to specialize in one or two areas of interest, and courses are focused on research and close examination of texts through written work and in-class discussion. In the senior year the history major produces a thesis on his/her area of interest. The thesis allows students to move from being consumers of history to being producers of history as they work with original sources, develop and sustain a meaningful historical argument on a specialized topic, and produce a substantive written work. At the end of the senior year the students present the findings of their thesis research projects in a public forum attended by professors and students. This final presentation is both celebratory of the fine work of the students and provides a chance for our young scholars to share their capstone projects with other members of the Pacific University community. In addition, the history department encourages students to take advantage of several full or part-time internship opportunities sometime during the junior or senior year. Classes are small, and close work between professors and students is the norm. At every level, students receive individualized attention by professors who stress the need to develop a command of electronic resources and written and oral communication, and who are committed to facilitating the personal and educational goals of each student.