Option offered through Liberal Arts
The American Studies Option provides opportunities for students who wish to understand the richness and diversity of American culture. This option offers a solid foundation in American history, politics, and literature accompanied by the study of related areas in the American experience. For many professions, such as teaching and law, this general education background is essential. In addition, the American Studies Option is also recommended to students who enter college without a definitive vocational goal and wish to explore the opportunities offered by many fields before deciding upon a career.
The specific objectives of this program are that the graduate must be able to demonstrate:
- an understanding of some of the major concepts in the areas of American history, politics, and literature;
- the ability to think critically about some of the major political issues that concern our nation today;
- an appreciation of the contributions that some American authors have made to developments in literature;
- sensitivity to the problems faced by some of the various groups that have made up the American experience, i.e., slaves, immigrants, native Americans;
- familiarity with how knowledge of the humanities and the social sciences enables an individual to better appreciate the kinds of cultural developments that have taken place in America;
- an ability to communicate clearly in both the spoken and written word.