How to Register
To register for HIST 498, email the instructor for permission (email addresses are indicated below for the instructor for each section). The instructor can then give permission by email to the academic advisor, Paloma Boykin boykin1@arizona.edu, to enroll you in the course.
Capstone Options for Fall 2026
HIST 498: "UFOs: “The Most Important International Problem”"
Prof. John Senseney (jsenseney@arizona.edu)
In Person: MW, 11am-12:15pm
The topic of our course will be UFOs and the deep historical importance of Tucson in the 1960s for the rise of widespread awareness of the arrival of flying saucers piloted by aliens wielding the highly advanced technologies of extraterrestrial civilizations. Our primary sources will include the very evidence collected by Prof. James E. McDonald of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona, who in 1966 declared on national television that UFOs present “the most important international problem.” After McDonald’s irreproachable scientific credentials and research brought UFOs to the attention of the United Nations, Congress, and citizens around the world, he was discovered in the desert outside Tucson with a bullet in his head from a .38-caliber revolver.
Students will view and handle special evidence largely unavailable to the public. Through powerful applications of historical research, their capstone projects will help uncover truths previously unimaginable to them. At the same time, they will exercise restraint in revealing too much of the special knowledge and insights they gain through their engagement with clandestine materials. Due to the high sensitivity of the topic, this course is reserved for history majors willing to undertake inquiries of the utmost central relevance to modern politics, culture, and society — as well as the biggest questions faced by humankind today.
HIST 498: "HIST 498: Voices from Enslavement and Liberation in Global History "
Prof. Benjamin Lawrance (benlaw@arizona.edu)
Fully Online
After studying examples of enslaved peoples in various parts of the world, from the early modern period to the late twentieth century, each student will have the opportunity to choose a topic or case study to focus on, which may include any form of enslavement, bondage, indenture, labor coercion, or human trafficking, broadly defined, with the consent of the professor. Potential research questions include but are not limited to how enslaved people navigate and survive their ordeal; how and why slavery and trafficking have changed over time; the consequences of being enslaved or trafficked; how different communities, institutions, and societies remember the enslaved and their legacy.
Students who have not taken any courses covering some historical aspect of slavery are encouraged to take History 308S in the Fall as a compliment to the course.
Students are required to sign up BEFORE the summer and must read one appropriate monograph on the subject of slavery during the summer (after a consultation with the professor).
HIST 498: "Historical Biography: Forgotten and Almost-Famous Figures"
Prof. Tyina Steptoe (tsteptoe@arizona.edu)
Fully Online
The story of one person’s life can reveal the history of an era, a place, a specific event, and so much more. This course explores the methods of researching and writing historical biography.
Students are urged to write about a person (from any period or place) whose contributions to history have largely been forgotten, ignored, or obscured by more famous names.