Concentration in American Studies

Students Admitted Prior to Autumn 2006
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Students Admitted Autumn 2006 and Later
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Overview

Concentration Coordinator: Philip Heldrich

American Studies students can pursue a variety of subjects and themes within an American context. American Studies allows students to examine cultural, artistic, political and economic patterns in the United States - an opportunity to explore diverse aspects of American experience. Students may also focus on specific subjects such as ethnicity or religion, or on particular modes of inquiry, such as those found in social science, history, or the study of literature, media and the arts.

Career Options

Students in American Studies pursue careers in media, education, government, business, nonprofit agencies and law. Depending on the focus students choose, they may pursue graduate studies in related disciplines.

Student Learning Outcomes

American Studies graduates will possess a broad-ranging knowledge and expertise about specific aspects of the American experience. For example:

• They will know the major geographical markings of the United States: mountain ranges, river systems, coastal lowlands, and plains.
• They will have learned the major groupings of North American Indians and the diversity of indigenous culture.
• Students will be familiar with the major contours of American history including Euro-American colonization, Indian wars and African-American slavery, the American Revolution, Civil War, Progressivism, and the twentieth century rise to world power, including the Cold War and Globalism.
• They will understand the relationship between American liberalism, equality, democracy, capitalism, and mixed economies. They will be able to trace the rise of republican institutions and the further enfranchisement of women and freedmen through the civil rights movement of the early and mid-twentieth century.
• They will understand the intersection of race, class, gender, environment, opportunity, and freedom (and oppression) in American Civilization.

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