We offer an undergraduate major and minor in American Studies and a minor in Communication Studies.
We are an interdisciplinary academic program that offers a wide variety of courses on American history, society, and culture at the introductory, intermediate, and advanced levels. Many of our courses can be used to satisfy the university’s General Education and Diversity requirements. You'll find many of our courses in programs in Women’s Studies, Asian American Studies, Latino Studies, Irish Studies, Environmental Studies, and in the History, English, Anthropology, and Africana Studies Departments.
Our curriculum brings perspectives from several disciplines to the intercultural study of the U.S. and its diverse peoples, paying particular attention to the ways that race, ethnicity, gender, and class have shaped the nation’s dynamics. Along with their coursework, majors have opportunities to mentor other students, do an internship, and write an Honors thesis.
Our Goals | Student Satisfaction | Our Reputation
GOALS
We require and provide one-to-one academic advising that is designed for students to meet the following goals:
To provide students with an understanding of the various forms of expression in American culture, popular and elite—written, visual, and oral—and to offer them the opportunity to explore how these are linked to broader historical processes and social forces.
To familiarize students with the perspectives and methods that different disciplines bring to the study of American society and culture, especially the disciplines of history, literature, sociology, and anthropology.
To help students formulate their own interpretation of a central aspect of American society and culture by concentrating their program of study in one of the following areas: literature and history, media/popular culture studies; gender and sexuality; race and ethnicity; the U.S. in the global context.
Starting with the first year of the American Studies major, 1997-1998, we have solicited students’ and alumni opinions of the program and its faculty through senior exit questionnaires and periodic alumni surveys. Below is a selection of student comments on the program that express the range of responses we have received from our graduating seniors and alumni over the past eight years.
Comments from Graduating Seniors
“The faculty was excellent and accessible….I loved everything about this major especially the courses and teachers.”
“I think the Department of American Studies has some of the best faculty in the University!”
“The courses were always my toughest. The content was always compelling, piercing my mind to understand the consequences of people’s actions, beliefs, politics, wars, conflicts, lies and truths.”
“I can honestly say that all of the American Studies professors were always helpful, available for questions and friendly and open.”
“I am so happy I picked this major. When I picked it I had no idea what I was interested in. I had no focus and really no motivation to finish college, but once I started taking courses in the program, I found myself wanting to learn and go to class and couldn’t wait until the next semester so I could take more interesting classes.”
“I was always steered in the right direction…American Studies is the program that got me back to school and kept me here, and without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
“I am going to be an elementary school teacher next September (2005). Each and every topic that I learned about in my AmSt classes will come up during the school year. I have a great background knowledge about America and its history and it’s thanks to my AmSt major.”
Seventh grade teacher: “It allows me to bring history alive…AmSt gave me a multidimensional look at history which I pass on to my students.”
Comments from Alumni
Librarian: “American Studies provides such a broad background of information on a variety of issues/subject areas/studies that I feel that I am at an advantage working in a library where the topics/issues/subject areas/studies of students must be addressed.
English as a foreign language teacher: “The best strengths are the diverse backgrounds and skills of the faculty and the overall access to them that students have….Everything I’ve done since graduating, I couldn’t have done without having majored in American Studies…Having worked overseas, it has been immensely influential.”
Graduate journalism student: “Having the background in American Studies has been absolutely amazing as I get deeper into my graduate studies. I have such a strong basis of ‘Americana’ that I feel my classmates who had different majors lacked.”
Program administrator at leading cancer research institute: “I feel that the history of our country as learned through American Studies honestly expresses this country’s past. Any student interested in socio-economics, immigration, ethnic studies, even anthropology, learns the unique make-up of this country and in learning that, I feel that I personally am a less self-centered—more community-oriented individual. With my AmSt major I am able to work towards human social justice, locally & globally.”
REPUTATION
The major reason why students express great satisfaction with the Department of American Studies is the outstanding faculty who teach in it, including senior faculty who have achieved major national recognition for their work as scholars and teachers in the field.
During the academic year 2004-2005, teachers and scholars from within the institution and from Brown University and the University of Missouri-Kansas City reviewed the Department of American Studies. The reviewers summed up their enthusiastic report of the program’s success by stating: “AmSt has a dedicated, well-published, nationally known, and award winning faculty committed to the discipline, to their research, to the program, and to their students—points made repeatedly by the students and alumni with whom we met. It features a coherent and effective curriculum that reflects best practices in the field at all levels.”