Extracurricular Opportunities

Students at Lourdes University are presented with a variety of opportunities to engage with history beyond the classroom. Game nights, conferences, lectures, and other events complement the classroom experience with additional ways to become immersed in history and become acquainted with the work of historians.

Lourdes University faculty and students play Oregon Trail and other history-themed games at one of the department’s History Game Nights.

Students and history faculty talk with a battlefield guide at Devil’s Den in Gettysburg National Military Park in October 2018. The Department of History offers travel opportunities that engage students with the past, historical memory and commemoration, and the work of historical preservation through service learning projects.

Lourdes University students who distinguish themselves in the study of history will be invited to join Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. To receive an invitation, a student must have completed at least 12 credit hours of coursework in history, achieve a minimum of a 3.1 GPA in history classes, and have compiled an overall GPA of at least 3.0. A ceremony is held each spring to induct new members and honor graduating members. Contact chapter adviser Dr. Adam Hodge (ahodge@lourdes.edu) with questions about Phi Alpha Theta at Lourdes.

Lourdes University faculty and student members of Phi Alpha Theta National at the 2014 Phi Alpha Theta Ohio Regional Conference held at Ohio Northern University, where several students presented their research papers. Most years, history faculty arrange a trip to the regional conference.

D. Scott Hartwig, former supervisory historian at Gettysburg National Military Park, delivers the keynote address at the 2015 Phi Alpha Theta Ohio Regional Conference held at Lourdes.

Every spring, the department invites an accomplished scholar to deliver its annual Distinguished Lecture in American History. In 2015, D. Scott Hartwig (far right) presented some of his work on the Antietam Campaign. The lectures are open to the public.