Department: American Studies

Contacts

Office: Building 460, Room 219
Mail Code: 94305-2022
Phone: (650) 723-3413
Web Site: http://amstudies.stanford.edu

Courses offered by American Studies Program are listed under the subject code AMSTUD on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses website.

Mission of the Undergraduate Program in American Studies

The mission of the undergraduate program in American Studies is to provide students with a broad understanding of American culture and society. Building on a foundation of courses in history and institutions, literature and the arts, and race and ethnicity, students learn to analyze and interpret America's past and present, forging fresh and creative syntheses along the way. The program is an interdisciplinary major and, beyond the core requirements of the major, students may define and pursue their own interests from fields such as history, literature, art, communication, theater, African American studies, feminist, gender & sexuality studies, economics, anthropology, religious studies, Chicana/o-Latina/o studies, law, sociology, education, Native American studies, music, and film. The program is designed to provide students majoring in American Studies with excellent preparation for further study in graduate or professional schools as well as careers in government, business, journalism, entertainment, public service, the arts, and other fields.

Learning Outcomes (Undergraduate)

The program expects undergraduate majors to be able to demonstrate the following learning outcomes. These learning outcomes are used in evaluating students and the undergraduate program. Students are expected to demonstrate:

1. ability to think about American culture and society in sophisticated, interdisciplinary, historically-informed ways, drawing on coursework in: history and institutions; literature, art, and culture; comparative race and ethnicity; and each student's individualized thematic focus

2. ability to identify and critically to assess different disciplinary, methodological, and interpretive approaches to the study of Americans and their past

3. ability to produce their own persuasive, nuanced, fact-based interpretations reflecting a close critical reading and analysis of relevant primary or secondary sources

4. ability to express their interpretive and analytical arguments in clear, effective prose.

5. ability to listen actively and to contribute to productive intellectual discussion in class

Faculty

Director: Shelley Fisher Fishkin

Director of Undergraduate Studies: Judith Richardson

Program Coordinators: Elizabeth Kessler, Judith Richardson

Lecturers: Christian Greer

Committee in Charge: Shelley Fisher Fishkin (English), Judith Richardson (English),  Jennifer DeVere Brody (Drama), Scott Bukatman (Art and Art History), Bruce Cain (Political Science), James T. Campbell (History), Gordon H. Chang (History), Matthew Clair (Sociology), Michele B. Elam (English), James Fishkin (Communication, and by courtesy, Political Science), Jonathan Gienapp (History), Allyson Hobbs (History), Gavin Jones (English), Ari Kelman (Education), Elizabeth Kessler (American Studies), Charles Kronengold (Music), Marci Kwon (Art and Art History), Kathryn Gin Lum (Religious Studies), Lerone Martin (Religious Studies), Doug McAdam (Sociology), Richard Meyer (Art and Art History), Ana Minian (History), Paula Moya (English), Alexander Nemerov (Art and Art History), Kathryn Olivarius (History), Vaughn Rasberry (English), Ramón Saldívar (English, Comparative Literature), Rose Salseda (Art&Art History), Forrest Stuart (Sociology), Fred Turner (Communication), Sam Wineburg (Education), Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh (Religious Studies), Caroline Winterer (History), Gavin Wright (Economics), Amy Beth Zegart (Hoover Senior Fellow).