Faculty  Majors  Minors  Courses  Honors
American Studies


The American Studies major is one that focuses upon life and culture in the United States, past and present, using resources, techniques, and approaches from a variety of disciplines. The major examines the diversity of Americans, as well as their commonly-shared experiences, and incorporates race, gender, class, and ethnicity as categories for cultural analysis. Students majoring in American Studies plan, with faculty advisors, a program of study that reflects their interests in American society and culture: history, the arts, literature, government, economics, social structures, institutions, education, and philosophy. Their combination of a core of interdisciplinary American Studies courses on specific topics, themes, eras and ways to study American culture, together with American subject courses from different disciplines, provides both breadth and in-depth knowledge of the development of American culture. With the encouragement of the American Studies faculty, students often include study abroad, Washington Semester, or internship experience in their programs.