Each year, the introductory course American Cultures is team-taught by two or three professors from different fields, including English, history, art history, music, anthropology and sociology. The class covers consumer culture, the frontier, religious beliefs, civil rights and other topics using evidence such as fiction, film, works of art and historical texts to explore both the distinctiveness and the diversity of U.S. culture.
Required classes in history and ethnic studies form a foundation on which students build an individual program of study. American Studies majors enjoy a close advising relationship with their faculty advisors and benefit from regular gatherings of faculty and students.
A junior seminar and senior seminar are also offered each year in which majors are introduced to theoretical problems in an interdisciplinary field of study and are guided in the writing of their senior theses.