Exciting new directions build on our interests in gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. Publicly-engaged scholarship in local and global contexts and the digital humanities play increasingly important roles in the production and dissemination knowledge by American Studies faculty and students. Students learn to analyze social structures and practices of identity, space and place, and the production and consumption of culture.
American Studies concentrators take foundational courses within the department and often use courses around the University to round out their interdisciplinary look at the United States. American Studies maintains strong ties to programs in Africana Studies, Ethnic Studies, Gender and Sexuality, Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Urban Studies (among others).