HIST 4499/01 – Senior Seminar
History of American Higher Education
#10098 – Summer
Semester, 2008
Instructor: Dr. Thomas A. Scott
TuTh
5:00 – 7:45 P.M. – SO 5074
Office: SO 4100
Office Hours: MW 1-2, TuTh 4-5, immediately
after class, or by appointment. I expect
to be on campus practically all afternoon everyday. Drop in any time you see the door open or
make an appointment if you would like to see me at times when I don’t have
office hours. I will also respond to
e-mail or phone messages as soon as I receive them.
Phone: 770-423-6254 (office); 404-421-8319 (cell)
FAX: 770-423-6432
e-mail: tscott@kennesaw.edu
Website: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~tscott/
Books:
Please purchase the following:
Thelin, John R. A History of American Higher
Education.
University Policy
on Academic Misconduct
Academic Honesty: Please
refer to policy stated in the current KSU Undergraduate Catalog. See Student Code of Conduct regarding section
II Academic Honesty (plagiarism and cheating).
It reads as follows: No
student shall receive, attempt to receive, knowingly give or attempt to give
unauthorized assistance in the preparation of any work required to be submitted
for credit as part of a course (including examinations, laboratory reports,
essays, themes, term papers, etc.) When
direct quotations are used, they should be indicated, and when the ideas, theories,
data, figures, graphs, programs, electronic based information or illustrations
of someone other than the student are incorporated into a paper or used in a
project, they should be duly acknowledged.
Testing and
Grading:
The grading scale is A = 90-100; B = 80-89; C = 70-79; D = 60-69, and F = 0-59. The final grade will be determined in the following manner:
The 100 points that constitute your final grade will be determined in the following manner:
1. 20 points. Daily quizzes over reading assignments: Expect a short-answer quiz at the start of each class. Unexcused absences will count as zeroes, but you may be excused from or allowed to make up an occasional quiz for good reason. Let me know as early as possible if you are ill or have an emergency.
2. 20 points. Test over readings and class discussion: The test will consist of a series of ID questions that you can answer in about a page each. Where questions ask for your opinion, you will be graded on how well you present evidence and reasoned arguments to defend your opinion.
3. 5 points. Participation in class discussions: as long as you attend all classes and take part in class discussions, you will receive the full five points.
4.
10 points. Preliminary bibliography: The bibliography should consist of at least
fifteen sources, most of which will be secondary sources. Short annotations should tell the reader the
value of each primary and secondary source for your particular topic. Secondary sources should be on broad topics
that will provide context for your paper.
In the bibliography don’t cite every primary source document—rather,
cite collections of documents: for
example, Carmichael, James Vinson, Papers, Special Collections, Woodruff
Library,
5.
10 points. Preliminary draft: Turn in about 4 pages of your paper—enough to
show you are making progress and enough to let me see how well you are
footnoting your sources and whether there are any correctable problems of
grammar and style. Due July 17. As soon as I
receive it, I’ll critique it and respond by
6. 5 Points. Presentation: You will have 10 minutes to tell the class about the major findings in your paper and your sources. You can use notes, but should not read your presentation. Power Point presentations are encouraged. Due July 22.
7. 30 points. Term Paper: The final paper should consist of 20 pages of text (double-spaced, 12 point type, 1 inch margins) and an annotated bibliography of at least 20 sources. Due July 24. (One bonus point up to a maximum of 10 for every day you turn it in early)
Description:
This section of the senior seminar will be on the history of American
higher education. We will read about the
evolution of higher education from the small liberal-arts colleges of the
colonial era to the complex system of colleges and universities we have
today. The class will be offered seminar
fashion in which you will be exposed not only to the history but also to the
historiography of higher education. The
central product will be a 20-page research paper on a well-focused aspect of
higher education. It should contain a
clearly defined thesis, and must be based on both primary and secondary
sources.
Daily Class
Schedule:
Thur., May 29 – Introduction; please read before coming to class Thelin, “Introduction: Historians and Higher Education,” A History of American Higher Education, xiii-xxii.
Thur., June 5
– Please read Thelin, Chap. 2,
“Creating the ‘
Tonight we will visit the KSU Archives. The archives are located in the Sturgis Library, Rooms 218-22. We will gather in our regular classroom and walk over together. The KSU archivist, Dr. Tamara Livingston, will talk to us about archival research in general and the KSU Archives in particular. We will spend about an hour at the archives before returning to the classroom (SO 5074) for the rest of the evening.
Tues., June 10 – Please read Thelin, Chap. 3, “Diversity and Adversity: Resilience in American Higher Education, 1860 to 1890,” pp. 74-109.
Thur., June 12 – Please read Thelin, Chap. 4, “Captains of Industry and Erudition: University-Builders, 1880 to 1910,” pp. 110-54.
Tues., June 17
– Please read Thelin, Chap. 5,
“Alma Mater:
Thur., June 19 – Please read Thelin, Chap. 6, “Success and Excess: Expansion and Reforms in Higher Education, 1920 to 1945,” pp. 205-59.
Tues., June 24
– Please read Thelin, Chap. 7,
“Gilt by Association: Higher Education’s
‘Golden Age,’ 1945 to 1970,” pp. 260-316.
Thur., June 26
– Please read Thelin, Chap. 8,
“Coming of Age in
Fri., June 27
– Last day to withdraw
Tues., July 1
– Exam over readings
Thur., July 3
– No class – Independence Holiday, but no later than today we need to agree on a
term paper topic (we can talk in person, by phone, or by email)
Tues., July 8
– We will spend class time talking about
Thur., July 10
– No class, but send in your bibliography by
Tues., July 15
– No class—work on your paper
Thur., July 17 – No class, but send in a preliminary draft of about four pages of the term paper (or more, if you have them)
Tues., July 22 – Presentations
Thur., July 24
– Term Paper due