Student working with school group at the Joel Lane Museum House in Raleigh.

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Heritage Studies

While history represents objective facts interpreted by trained scholars, heritage is constructed from the values and meanings given it by public audiences.  Social, cultural, and personal experiences frame heritage.  From the Scottish Highland Games to Civil War re-enactments, heritage represents cultural as well as historical contexts.  Our program provides students with professional skills to work for local, state, national, and international organizations as well as private institutions in developing concepts and strategies for the conservation, rehabilitation and promotion of cultural resources and heritage sites.  They will be able to design and implement plans for the protection and development of heritage properties, and create models for sustainable tourism around historic and heritage sites.

Our Heritage Studies courses are taught by faculty superior in their vocational and scholarly training.  Under the advisement of the Director of Public History, students develop a curricular plan in their first semester.  The typical curriculum is:

Core requirements (12 hrs.):

HI 596: Introduction to Public History

HI 597: Historiography

HI 598: Historical Writing

HI 642: Internship: course paperwork

Museum Studies Field (9 hrs.):

HI 586: Heritage Studies and Tourism

HI 587: Cultural Resource Management

HI 588: Interpretation, Heritage, and Power

Traditional History Field (min. 9 hrs.)

Electives (max. 6 hrs.)

two courses selected from the Heritage Studies field, the traditional history field, and/or any of the following Public History electives:

HI 533: Oral History

HI 534: History and Digital Media

HI 563: History and Memory,

HI 589: Interpretation in Historic Sites and Parks

or one of the following from another discipline at NCSU:

ANT 533: Anthropology of Ecotourism and Heritage Conservation

ARC 544: Architectural Conservation,

ARC 548: Vernacular Architecture,

COM 581: Visual Rhetoric: Theory and Criticism

NR 531: Introduction to Geographic Information Science

NR 548: Historical Environments

PA 531: Human Resources Management in Public & Nonprofit Organizations,

PA 536: Management of Nonprofit Organizations,

PA 538: Budgeting and Financial Management,

PA 539: Fund Development,

PA 640: Grant Writing,

PRT 520: Concepts of Travel and Tourism;

or a course taken interinstitutionally at Duke University or UNC.  (This option is only valid when similar courses are not available at NCSU.)

Oral Exam based upon coursework and portfolio developed in practicum and extracurricular projects.

IMPORTANT: This curriculum is still being developed, so some courses may not appear in catalog.