Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Column: From Plato To Ebola?: Introducing World History In A First Year Seminars On Epidemics, Carol Summers

History Faculty Publications

How can world historians take advantage of interdisciplinary general education requirements to introduce new students to the methods and uses of history? When survey courses are not institutionalized, specialized courses that draw on individual faculty members’ expertise and fit into general education curricular niches may be the best option. This essay describes my efforts in a First Year Seminar on Epidemics and Empires to teach a broader range of students to how world historical approaches and methods both introduce them to a bigger, more complicated world, and provide tools to understand it.