American Studies Major

American Studies Major

Please see the Program Requirements Disclaimer when planning your coursework.

Mission Statement

The major in American studies equips students with an interdisciplinary skill set for interpreting the cultural heritage and contemporary trends in the United States. The program is grounded in a close reading of primary texts supplemented by interpretive frameworks drawn from the disciplines of history, literary studies, political science, and sociology. Graduates with a B.A. in American studies thereby possess the skills needed for careers in journalism, community development, public policy, foreign service, and other fields requiring a comprehensive understanding of American life. A minor in American studies provides a supplement to other majors by enhancing the perspective that a student would bring to careers traditionally associated with a B.A. in business, communication, English, history, psychology, sociology, etc. The program may especially appeal to foreign students seeking to acquire a clear grasp of the American experience in order to apply that knowledge, for example, to a career in international business.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Cultural Literacy: To demonstrate basic cultural literacy of the era, genres, movements, and historical events pertinent to American identity, and to identify correctly allusions, excerpts from particular works, and works written by key authors.
2. Historical Understanding: To explain the roles of people, ideas, institutions, and actions in shaping key developments in American history.
3. Social Awareness: To identify and evaluate social concerns on the national level in a manner that demonstrates knowledge of basic definitions, concepts, and theories in sociology.
4. Critical Thinking: To apply contemporary literary theories, historiography, and sociological theories to the interpretations of written and visual media in dialogue with pertinent concerns of the Christian faith.
5. Communication Skills: To polish with professional competence a work of formal academic writing, including documentation in the accepted style of the discipline, and to present a summary of one’s research orally.

Entry into the Major

Students should declare American studies as their intended major as early in their college career as possible by filing a Declaration of Major and Change of Advisor form with the registrar. The student’s advisor should be from the English or sociology department, depending upon which of the three tracks the student intends to complete within the American studies major. At least one of the lower-division electives in each of those three areas should be completed with a grade of C+ or higher prior to application for the major. Students must also have a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above.

Core Requirements

Required lower division courses:

• PLSC105 American Government
• ENGL331 Early American Authors or ENGL332 Modern American Authors
• HIST207 History of USA I or HIST208 History of USA II
• SOCL101 Introduction to Sociology or SOCL240 Criminal Deviance and Justice
• Choose one more course from the ENGL or HIST list above, depending upon one’s preferred track: History or English (3 credits)

Required upper division courses: 24 credits for the history track. For the English track, 21 upper division credits and 3 lower-division credits see ENGL 210 in the “capstone sequence,” below):

Choose one English elective:

• COMM362 Social Media Communication
• ENGL335 African-American Literature
• ENGL350 Literary Theory
• ENGL480 Topics in Literature and Language [when topics pertain to America]

Choose one History elective:

• HIST410 The Era of the American Revolution
• HIST420 Constitution and Early Republic
• HIST430 The American Civil War and Reconstruction
• HIST450 Civil Rights Movement
• HIST470 The Supreme Court and the American People
• HIST480 Topics in American History

Choose one Religious Studies elective:

• HIST460 Religion in American History
• RELG330 Christian Social Thought
• RELG340 Apologetics
• RELG425 Eastern Religion/Spirituality in America

Required Art History course (3 credits):

• ARTS344 American Art History

Required Sociology course:

• SOCL330 American Minorities

Capstone Track

English Track:

• ENGL210 College Writing II
• ENGL320 The English Language
• ENGL493 Senior Seminar I
• ENGL494 Senior Seminar II

History Track:

• HIST4xx (a second course from History Elective section)
• HIST490 Introduction to Historical Research and Writing
• HIST493 Senior Seminar I
• HIST494 Senior Seminar II

American Studies Minor

The minor in American studies requires:

• PLSC105 American Government
• ENGL331 Early American Authors or ENGL332 Modern American Authors
• HIST207 History of USA I or HIST208 History of USA II
• SOCL101 Introduction to Sociology or SOCL240 Criminal Deviance and Justice

Three of:

• ENGL335 African-American Literature or ENGL480 Topics in Literature and Language [when topics pertain to America]
• HIST450 Civil Rights Movement or HIST470 The Supreme Court and the American People
• SOCL330 American Minorities
• HIST460 Religion in American History or RELG425 Eastern Religion/Spirituality in America