Going into the Professionalizing History Majors course, I had no idea what to expect since it’s not like any other specialized history course offered at UCF. However, this class ended up giving me such a wide range of knowledge on historiography, networking, and professionalization, along with so many opportunities to get hands-on historical experience in various fields.
Our class readings revolved around the central ideas of how professional historians uphold the standards of the discipline, along with how historians help prevent the misuse of history. The misuse of history specifically fascinated me, and it was interesting to see various perspectives on this concept throughout time, from authors like Lynn Hunt (Author of History; Why It Matters) and Margaret Macmillan (Author of Dangerous Games: The Uses and Abuses of History). I think I found these readings the most interesting because they’re incredibly relevant today, despite not being completely new or modern publications.
What I’m most grateful to have taken from this course, though, was the ability to network. My classmates were such an incredible group of students and it was really comforting being able to build friendships with everyone despite all of us having different goals and being at various points within our major. It helped build my confidence in so many aspects and we all genuinely looked forward to class every week!
Additionally, I had the opportunity to speak with various history professionals at UCF and gain some really cool knowledge and opportunities as a result! One of our guest speakers, Dr. French, even helped me get involved with a really cool internship opportunity utilizing digital scanners to preserve the history of the middle school I graduated from, which I’m very excited to be a part of. Additionally, one of our final projects, our Elevator Pitch, even helped me network with our own professor, Dr. Beiler, and I’m excited to gain more experience with her research project as well!
I loved how this class was more hands-on than I thought it would be. I completely understand why it’s a required course for the major! Gaining an understanding of historical nuance and understanding how versatile the skills used in the historical field are really helped me lay the groundwork of my future career with my degree.
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