HISTORY 123 — HISTORY AT WORK
2025 Fall
Wednesday, 9:30-10:20
Schleman 317
Instructor: O.T. Ford
Office: Beering 6175
E-mail: otford@purdue.edu
Phone: (765-49)4-6730
Office hours: after class or by appointment
History 123 is a class for history majors to explore history as a field, and their future as history graduates. We will do planning for your academic and post-academic future, professional development, and career exploration.
I. Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students should have:
— a better acquaintance with history as an academic field, and the department
— a grasp of several methods and practices useful in academic history, including library and archival research, and digital humanities
— an adaptable plan for the next five to six years
— a better understanding of career options for history graduates
— improved tools and skills for job searches
II. Assignments
Academic and post-academic plan. You will produce a plan for at least the next five years, and at least three years after graduation. This would show your remaining coursework, and your immediate plans for work and/or further education. But this plan must have, throughout, a number of options. You can start with your ideal outcome for any given choice (a job, a school), but you need to propose realistic alternatives as well.
Career exploration. You will register for an account with the Center for Career Opportunities, MyCCO. Once you have a completed resume, you will upload that. You will also make an appointment with a career counselor at CCO or the CLA Career Center.
Job search. You will identify one example each of three different jobs: an internship available for the coming or following summer; a job that you are qualified for right now; and a job that you would be qualified for at some point in your post-academic plan. You don’t have to apply for it (though you can, of course); but each needs to be a real job.
Resume and/or curriculum vitae. You will produce an updated master resume, showing your current qualifications and all of your previous employment. You will also produce a version of your resume that you could use with each of the three jobs above, edited from your master resume for length, and to feature the most relevant of your experience and qualifications.
Cover letter template and targeted cover letters. You should first draft a generic cover letter, containing basic elements that you would generally want a prospective employer to know about you. You will then produce a version of that cover letter for each of your identified jobs.
Your plan, cover letter template, and master resume will all be produced first as drafts, for me to review; due dates are below. A small part of your grade for each of these assignments will be based on turning in these drafts on time. Based on my feedback, and anything you learn in class, you will revise these three documents, and turn them in along with all other materials on December 3.
III. Weekly schedule
Week 1, August 27
Introduction. Discussion of assignments.
Week 2, September 3
History as an academic field
Professor Debbie Fleetham
Week 3, September 10
Library research and resources
Cover letters
Work and discussion day — plan
Job search and draft plan due
Week 4, September 17
Archives and archival research
Professor Adriana Harmeyer, Archives and Special Collections
Meet in the HSSE library
Week 5, September 24
Job search and application basics; resumes
Morgan Delph, Center for Career Opportunities
Week 6, October 1
TBA
Draft cover letter template due
Week 7, October 8
Museums
Erika Kvam, director and head curator, Purdue Galleries
Week 8, October 15
TBA
Draft master resume due
Week 9, October 22
Education
Professor Chrystal Johnson, Social Studies Education
Week 10, October 29
Law
Cristy Gosney, Center for Career Opportunities
Cory Judd, lawyer and Purdue history graduate
Ian Campbell, lawyer and Purdue history graduate
Week 11, November 5
Public history
Professor Rebecca Shrum, director of Public History, IU–Indianapolis
Week 12, November 12
TBA
Week 13, November 19
Class discussion on assignments
Week 14, November 26
Thanksgiving Break; NO CLASS
Week 15, December 3
Historic preservation
Professor J.P. Hall, director of Historic Preservation, Ball State
Mikayla Klemp, historic preservationist and Purdue history graduate
All final assignments due
Week 16, December 10
Final discussion
No final exam
- Grading
Because this class is graded pass/not-pass, the main requirement to pass is that you take it seriously. If you attend class and do the assignments in earnest, you will pass.
But for the record, this will be the grade breakdown:
Attendance: 30%
Academic/post-academic plan: 20%
Job search: 10%
Resumes: 20%
Cover letters: 20%
Grading Scheme
Pass = 70-100
Not pass = Below 70
- Course policies
Attendance: Attendance at all class meetings is mandatory. If you are unable to attend for any reason, please e-mail me ahead of time.
Free expression: Purdue is committed to free expression, and so am I. While you cannot say anything you want at any time — it is still necessary to have some order in a classroom, for example — you are encouraged to read Purdue’s policy on free expression, and recognize the value to your own education of an environment where ideas are exchanged and discussed freely. https://www.purdue.edu/purdue/about/free-speech.php
- Writing assistance