Murray Godfrey

Associate Professor History

Dept(s):History
Office:Modoc Hall 213
Email:mgodfrey@cocc.edu
Phone:541-318-3734
Office Hours:

Office Hours - Spring 2024

To be determined. 

Classes Spring 2024

  • History 202 - 19th Century US
  • History 203 - 20th Century  US
  • History 206 – War & Society 1914-1945

What is History?

History illuminates and analyzes the human past through primary and secondary evidence. History majors and minors earn to think with rigor, to write with clarity and precision, to research, organize and assess evidence and to interpret complex information.

Many arts and science disciplines can make the claim to analyze social phenomena or human behavior, but history does so while offering a boundless variety of material for analysis including the diversity of lived human experience. Themes in history courses include politics, ethnicity, wars, sexuality, music, social class, religion, ideas and other distinctive topics that reveal the human experience at various times and places. Not only is the study of history useful for professional life, it provides a compelling context for personal enrichment and lifelong learning.

Advising 

All advisees need at least one in-person advising session per academic year.  Advisees who complete an in-person advising session can be cleared for 1 academic year (3 terms). 

To be cleared for only one term, advisees must e-mail me a proposed schedule with the classes the student plans to take toward his/her degree plan.  This can only be done for up to 2 consecutive terms.  If 2 or more consecutive terms have passed without an advising session, the student will need to make an appointment.

Advisees in need of guidance regarding degree plans or majors must make an in-person appointment. 

All U.S. history courses partly satisfy the Social Science discipline studies and fully satisfy the Cultural Literacy portion of the AAOT degree (Associate of Arts - Oregon Transfer).   Interested members of the public are invited to visit an in-class sections of U.S. history classes with instructor approval.  For non-credit seeking students or members of the public, entire courses may be audited free of charge, but requiring registration.  E-mail is the best method of contact with the instructor, or speak with the World Languages and Cultures, Social Sciences, or Prineville/Madras campus administration assistants.  Adults over 65 receive tuition waivers for COCC credit courses.  https://www.cocc.edu/admissions/tuition-fees-payment/  Online courses cannot be audited.

Course descriptions

History 201: Provides an overview of the civilizations of North America and the United States from pre-history to the early 19th century, covering the colonial, revolutionary and early national periods. Topics include Native American societies, the migration of Europeans and Africans and the impact on native populations, regional Protestant cultures, the emergence of racial slavery, the political origins and constitutional consequences of the American Revolution, politics, culture and war in the first few decades of existence for the United States. Need not be taken in sequence. Credits: 4 Lecture: 4

History 202: Provides an overview of United States history from approximately 1820 to 1920, covering the antebellum, civil war, reconstruction, gilded age and progressive periods. Topics include the Jacksonian era, territorial expansion, slavery and the Old South, the causes and consequences of the Civil War, successes and failures of Reconstruction, 19th-century society and culture, economic transformations, U.S. imperialism, progressivism and the United States entrance into World War I. Need not be taken in sequence. Credits: 4 Lecture: 4

History 203: Provides an overview of United States history from approximately 1920 to the present, covering the modern period. Topics include the end of World War I and its consequences, modernity, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, foreign policy determinants & conflicts since WWII, Civil Rights, 1960s-70s social and cultural changes, shifting economic and social role of government, feminism and changing status of women since WWII, immigration, 20th century society and culture, late 20th century politics, terrorism and other recent developments. Need not be taken in sequence. Credits: 4    Lecture: 4

History 206Surveys the cultural, social, political, and military history of the world in the era of the major world wars, 1914 to 1945. Offers a wide-ranging description and analysis of the First World War, interwar period, and Second World War, their global impacts and legacies. Combines military history with political, social, and cultural approaches. Credits: 4 Lecture: 4

History 218: Examines Native American (or First Peoples) lifestyles before and after contact with European settlers. With increasing demands by whites and new immigrants for land, Native Americans struggled for survival implementing various tactics to retain control of their homelands and retain their unique cultures.  Credits: 4   Lecture: 4