Hankins says that he does not know if the department plans to focus on certain types of history in the future.

"I don't know if we have sat down and thought about a particular direction for the department to go in,"

Hankins says. "But Professor Fleming had a set of interests that were very strongly literary and scientific. Kloppenberg is more into philosophy and social science."

Kloppenberg says that though he wants to do the best job that he can to improve the department, he does not plan to build a whole new program.

"The popularity of intellectual history depends on the particular students," Kloppenberg says. "I want to offer the best courses that I can and to the students who are interested in the material. If I offer courses people like, they will take them."

That Intellectual Feeling

According to Hankins, who has served as the department's head tutor, intellectual history is relatively popular among students and is the third largest track. Only American and European history draw more concentrators.

The intellectual history track is currently home to between 15 and 20 students, Hankins says. "To my mind that is just the right number," he says. "Enough for a certain esprit de corps, but not too many that we can't give individual attention to the students."