American Studies — Degree Requirements
Candidates for the MA degree in American Studies must satisfactorily complete 30 credits of graduate work, including a final project (AMS.T 688, 3 credits) based on original research. Students may choose to do a traditional MA thesis (6 credits) in lieu of a final project. This is a more substantial piece of original research, prepared under the guidance of an individual faculty advisor, and must be defended before a committee of three faculty members.
The curriculum is built around a core of six three-credit courses:
- AMS.T 601 (Introduction to American Studies)
- AMS.T 602 (Historical Sequence I: American Society and
Political Culture: 1600-1865) - AMS.T 603 (Historical Sequence II: Modern Political, Social,
and Cultural History) - AMS.T 604 (Gender and Sexuality in US History and Culture)
- AMS.T 605 (Ethnicity, Race, and Nationality)
- AMS.T 606 (Studies in Popular Culture and Technology)
Elective courses may be drawn from additional graduate and advanced undergraduate courses in American Studies, Anthropology, English, Women’s Studies, Africana Studies, Politics, History, and Public Policy.