Mark Allshouse thinks he's missed out on half of American history in the classes he's taken here so far.

So this semester, he enrolled in History/Women's Studies 117, which focuses on women's roles in American history.

"I thought it would give me a new perspective on old history," said Allshouse (junior-administration of justice). "You can learn everything you've learned before but you were missing half of it."

The professor of the class, Lori Ginzberg, agreed that students are taught less than half the history in high school because they learn mostly about white, middle- to upper-class males.

"In many ways history is written by the winners in a given society," said Ginzberg, assistant professor of history and women's studies. "Those are the people who define what matters."

People should understand that historians disagree about facts, and their viewpoint of truth is not the only one, she added.

"It's important because the traditional academic culture has been telling people for hundreds of years that they represent a neutral viewpoint," Ginzberg said. "I don't believe there's such a thing."

Discovering women from the past is an important element of history, Ginzberg said, but it is also important to learn how societies constitute ideas about gender and other groups to oppress different people.

"I think it's important for students to learn that no one group has the monopoly to decide what is true," she said.

In the last 20 to 30 years, many different people have changed the curriculum and happenings on university campuses, Ginzberg said.

Especially in the 1960s, people demanded that causes relevant to their own lives be integrated into the educational system, she added. Since then, historians have re-asked historical questions, and different people are writing history.

"A lot of people are looking for their story," Ginzberg said. "If your group is represented dominantly in history you're not looking for your story."

But Allshouse said he wants to learn the women's perspective of history because it will affect his view of the present, and if he becomes a lawyer it will enhance his career.

"History is the past but it also affects the present," he said.

The class hosts a variety of topics including world wars, women's work, black women images, marriage and slavery. Lectures incorporate an outline of historical events and then focus specifically on how women were involved.

Students describe the lectures asinteresting and fair representations of both sides of the story.

"There's not a lot of preaching in this class," said Rich Vilacoba (sophomore-administration of justice). "I was kind of scared there would be, but it's an interesting class."