DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

CHAIR’S MESSAGE 

My name is Murray Wickett, and I am currently the Chair of the History Department at Brock University. I remember when I was in your shoes. It was an exciting yet at the same time, frustrating experience. It is not easy to choose between universities. Some schools might be located close to home (for some this may be a convenience for commuting, for others a disincentive since it means your parents will know the ratio of time spent in the pub versus the library!). Some schools offer a prestigious legacy but their large size means you won’t get to know many fellow students and your professors will never know your name. So how do you choose? I think you want to choose a school where the History Department studies the past, but doesn’t live in it. And I think that school is Brock University. Here’s why.

First of all, from the first class that you take to your final course in your graduating year, you will have a seminar component of not more than 20 students. Guaranteed! Unlike other History programs, at Brock each one of our lecture courses has a corresponding discussion group. In these small classes you will get to know your fellow History students and your professors. At Brock, we don’t believe in a passive education. We want you to feel engaged, we want you to be active agents in seizing control of your own education, in the words of our immortal namesake, Sir Isaac Brock, “Surgite!”

What is studying history at Brock like? Let me walk you down one of our corridors on a typical day. Let’s open that first door on the right. No, those students aren’t goofing off playing video games. This is Dr. Kevin Kee’s class on creating historical based video games. Professor Kee and his team of researchers have created “Outbreak” a video game based upon the 19^th century outbreak of cholera in Montreal. Now let’s enter that door on the left, this is Dr. Behnaz Mirzai’s room. She is showing her students a documentary film that she produced on slavery in Iran. Eat your heart out James Cameron! Okay, now follow me down the hall. What are those little hand held devices in the student’s hands you ask? Those are called clickers. They allow Dr. Michael Driedger to instantly post student responses on the large video screen behind him. That’s right 97% of the students polled think that response number 2 (Michaelangelo) is the correct answer to the question: who was the artist that painted the ceiling of the Sistine chapel? (only 3% indicated they thought it was Michael Andretti). Okay, let’s go into this next seminar room. More computers? Yes, this is Dr. John Bonnett’s course on historical 3-D imaging. His students are busy at work, using insurance company records, old photographs, and building permits to create 3-D imaging of 19^th century buildings in Niagara-on-the-lake.  Now as we come to the end of the hall, look at that line of students outside with their luggage bags. They are headed on quite an adventure. Dr. Andrew McDonald, our Medievalist is taking a group of students to Iceland for a week, where they will get to actually look at and handle (with gloves of course!) old norse documents. Bon Voyage!

Well, now that you’ve taken a “virtual tour” of a small sampling of the exciting work being done in the History department, I hope you will decide to come to Brock and experience it for yourself. Remember, the History Department at Brock studies the past, it doesn’t live in it!

Looking forward to seeing you at Brock University