We hope you will come to know us as educators and historians. Virtually every member of our department has won or been nominated for one or more of the university's awards for excellence in teaching. We are equally proud of the fact that we are a community of scholars involved in the active pursuit of historical understanding. As scholar-teachers we are committed to sharing our love of history and our search for historical insight with our students.

Many people who have not had the opportunity to study history at an advanced level believe that the study of history involves nothing more than memorizing dates, names, battles, treaties, and endless amounts of similar boring, and largely inconsequential facts. After all, so the popular argument goes, the past is over and done with. Historians know what has happened, and all that is left for students to do is to absorb this body of knowledge--often against their will. But this whole notion is wrong. The study of history centers on discovery and interpretation, and each of its students is involved in a highly creative process of investigation, analysis, and elucidation. The very word history, which is Greek in origin, means "learning through inquiry," and that is precisely what historians and their students do. They discover and interpret the past by asking questions and conducting research. In the process, history's students become educated people, possessing flexible minds and sophisticated world views who are prepared to meet the challenges of a constantly changing and increasingly complex world.

Our students, very much like the history faculty that serves and works with them, are a variegated lot. Most are not history majors and take only one or a few courses with us, but they are just as important to us as our majors and minors. So far as our undergraduate majors and minors are concerned, most have absolutely no intention of ever teaching history or otherwise becoming professional historians. Most, we happily report, graduate and go on to careers in business, the law, journalism, and a wide variety of other professions. Two of our recent history graduates, for example, have won Pulitzer Prizes, one for journalism, the other for literature. What all of our students, both present and past, share is a passion for history and a desire to use its study as a means toward deepening their insight into the human condition, sharpening their analytical skills, and improving their ability to express their insights in clear English prose. In other words, they have chosen history as their main avenue toward a well-rounded education.

We hope that you will consider taking your place among the women and men who have chosen to study history at UVM.