History

The history major focuses on teaching students three basic skills: research, analysis, and communication, Roberta Magnusson, associate history professor said.

Elise Wenzel, history senior, said she enjoys being a history major.

“We are all really enthusiastic about history,” Wenzel said. “There’s no ‘ho hum, I think I’ll just be a history major.’ It’s not like we’re in it for the money.”

History majors can’t be averse to reading, writing or not having a definite answer, according to Wenzel.

Professors expect students to have the readings done on time.

“All of our courses have substantial components of reading and writing, and the smaller seminars also emphasize speaking,” Magnusson said.

Wenzel said the classes are demanding.

“Make sure to maintain information from each class because everything builds on everything else,” Wenzel said. “If you know the material, you’ll get a decent grade.”

Changes have been made to the undergraduate history major.

“We have recently made some changes to the undergraduate major, by instituting two new small seminars and by giving students more choices in the areas they wish to study,” Magnusson said.

The two new seminars are the History Sleuth, HIST 2573, which teaches the methodology of research and analysis, and the Colloquium, HIST 3573, which emphasizes the development of professional writing, according to Magnusson.

“Both of these are small seminars restricted to history majors,” Magnusson said. “They give students the chance to get to know their fellow majors, and to participate in a class that can be much more hands-on and interactive than a typical larger lecture course.

“The new ‘field of concentration’ option permits students to choose between distributing their upper-division history courses among different areas of the world, or concentrating on one particular area or thematic approach,” Magnusson said. “Those who want to concentrate have eleven fields from which to choose.”

The five geographic fields are Asian, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and US History, according to Magnusson. The six thematic fields are Pre-modern, Cultural & Intellectual, Race, Ethnicity & Identity, Women & Gender, War, Revolution & Diplomacy, and Legal & Constitutional Heritages.

Wenzel is concentrating in European history. She said she expects to get a job either teaching at a university or working at a museum

“Teaching at a high school is a perfect worthy ambition, but it’s not mine,” Wenzel said. “I plan on getting my masters degree in history with a museum study certificate. There are not many schools that offer this so I really hope they like me.

“I don’t expect a dream job right away, but I’m not worried in the long run,” Wenzel said.

There are more available career options for history majors than teaching.

“There's a common misperception that all you can do with a history degree is teach history, but in fact it's a degree than can be applied to a very wide range of careers,” Magnusson said. “The specific skills that students develop as history majors can open the door to many different jobs, in both the public and private sectors. Some of the most common career paths for history majors are education, law, public service, information services, museums & historic preservation, corporations, and non-profit agencies.”

Wenzel doesn’t have much free time because she is taking 18 hours this semester.

“My friend has time to be addicted to television, so if you’re not taking 18 hours then the schedule can’t be too bad,” Wenzel said. “Although I do spend way too much time looking at cheezburger cats.”

For more information, the American Historical Association has a detailed guide to careers for history majors at http://www.historians.org/jobs/index.htm.

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mental or behavioral characteristics of an individual or group. The primary focus of the psychology department at the University of Oklahoma has changed from clinical psychology to scientific psychology, according the Department of Psychology website.

“Psychology is a good major to start with when you don’t know where you want to go in life.” Reanna Patton, a former behavioral health rehabilitation specialist at Red Rock said. “It’s useful in your daily life because you study how other people function and how you function around them.”

Thomas Cline, a psychology graduate, said a psychology degree starts with theorists and theories, like Sigmund Freud.

“Freud was interesting but he’s also full of crap,” Cline said. “He’s a revolutionary thinker but you have to take everything he says with a grain of salt.”

Cline said that he liked his psychology professors.

“The professors are good at what they do,” Cline said. “I didn’t have a psychology professor that I didn’t like. They also weren’t vicious about giving lots of work. They expect you to work hard but they aren’t unreasonable.”

Cline said that his classes during his senior year required extra work.

“I studied a lot,” Cline said. “Probably more than the average student. But it was worth it to get the 3.8 GPA.

“Seminars and some of the later classes made us read a 250-400 page textbook in two weeks. The books were interesting but since we have a lot of other classes it takes up a lot of our time.”

Professors expect students understand the material.

“Psychology is more about understanding the whole rather than regurgitating the individual specifics,” Patton said.

“More than anything,” Cline said. “Professors expect creative analytical thinking.”

Cline and Patton recommend psychology capstone classes.

“I highly recommend the capstone, Psychology and Law,” Cline said. “Everyone should know just how messed up our system is and how demonized it is. I recommend it if you have the stomach for it. Frankly I found the details really nauseating.”

Patton recalled her capstone class with Professor Robert Terry.

“He asked two students to go out of the class so that he could tell the other students a story and then the two students had to guess what the story was about,” Patton said. “After the students left, he said that he wasn’t going to tell a story and that if our birthday was an even number then we must always answer ‘yes’ to all their questions. The story that they came up with was something about Mexicans, fish and dancing. It was hilarious.

“This experiment was about assumptions. The fact that he was a teacher gave him enough authority to convince others that he was telling the truth. Professor Terry always does stuff like this in his classes.”

Patton entered psychology because her little brother is autistic.

“I was always interested in mental health,” Patton said. “I want to get out there and help people.”

Patton recalled the most memorable experience she had while working at Red Rock.

Patton met a poor troubled boy whose shoes were falling apart while working at Red Rock. The councilors decided to buy him some shoes but they couldn’t afford the brand he wanted.

“I apologized when I gave him the shoes but he just smiled,” Patton said. “The look on his face just to get any shoes was priceless. When he acts out, it’s the disorder talking, but I really got to see the kid underneath. It was touching.”

The availability of jobs for students depends on whether they go to graduate school, Patton said. Jobs available for a bachelor degree includes social work, rehabilitation specialists, mental health technicians, and councilors.

Cline said he plans on going back for his masters this fall.

“I had this idea in my head that I wanted to be a psychologist or counselor,” Cline said. “I’m not so sure anymore. I’m still in the process of figuring out what job to get. It’s really hard to get your foot in the door anywhere with a bachelors.”

When Cline is not working or studying for the GRE, he is playing video games and drawing comics.

Music Performance

The performance major is for students who choose to pursue professional careers in music.

“The music performance major is designed for the serious performer,” said Dr. Steven Curtis, academic director at the University of Oklahoma. “Often these people start studying their instrument or voice at an early age. Many would like to earn a performance position in an orchestra, or for singers, performance opportunities in opera.

“In addition to general education courses and many other courses all other students take, performance majors take higher level theory courses. Performance majors also do two recitals instead of one for other degrees.”

Elizabeth Wenzel, harp performance senior, takes music theory classes, large and small ensemble, orchestra, harp ensemble, and private lessons.

Wenzel chose the major because she likes playing the harp.

“I have a harp,” Wenzel said. “And I always thought that if I did something else, I would always regret not doing the harp.”

Wenzel said the other reason she chose to be a performance major is because she likes to play at parties.

“You get to dress up and look pretty,” Wenzel said.

Professors expect students to come to class prepared.

“We expect our students to be serious scholars and performers,” Curtis said.

Wenzel practices about three to four hours a day.

“Be prepared,” Wenzel said. “You must know your music.”

There is a reason for the long practice sessions. Incidents can occur during a performance. Wenzel’s harp string broke in the middle of the musical, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

“When things go wrong,” Wenzel said. “The directors are looking at you, chewing their nails, and hoping you’ll get everything under control.”

Wenzel managed to fix her harp string to play through the rest of the musical.

Wenzel also hit someone on the head with her harp the other day.

“I’ve run over plenty of people,” Wenzel said. “But I’ve never hit someone on the head before.”

Weather changes are not good for the harp, Wenzel said.

“A bass wire string popped off during a dress rehearsal because of the weather,” Wenzel said. “It sounded like a gunshot. It scared everyone.”

Wenzel wants to get a job in performance.

“I’d like to get a big orchestral job,” Wenzel said. “But I’ll have to work myself through smaller orchestras first.”

Curtis expects that even though the students are preparing for careers in performance, all of them will probably teach at some point in their careers.

There are ways to increase the chances of success at getting the desired job.

“The people you meet are very important,” Wenzel said.

Wenzel said she doesn’t have much free time, but when she does she attempts to teach her boyfriend how to cook or she drags her sister to go shopping.