The Department of History at Oklahoma State University announced a new course for Fall 2015 titled, “History of Energy” (HIST 4603).  Associate professor of history Brian Frehner, Ph.D. will teach the course.  

The course will focus primarily on energy history in North America but lectures and readings will touch upon examples of energy production and consumption form throughout the world.  Energy will be considered as a topic relevant to science, technology, and culture.  

According to the course description, some of the questions posed include: What have been the costs of energy development?  How has technology contributed to energy development?  Has the world created an energy dependence from which it cannot escape?  Will humans continue to meet their energy needs and mitigate their impacts on environment by addressing climate change?

Frehner is the author of Finding Oil: The Nature of Petroleum Geology, 1859-1920, which won the Hal K. Rothman Book Prize in 2012.  He recently completed a two-year project consisting of a historical exhibit that demonstrates how the humanities inform and complement the physical sciences.  It is on permanent display in the foyer of the Noble Research Center at OSU.  

To view all undergraduate history courses, visit: http://history.okstate.edu/academics/undergraduate/57-undergraduate-program-undergraduate-courses