The director of the program should be consulted well in advance of the application date for detailed information about procedures. All sophomore and junior majors in American Studies enroll in American Studies 301-1,2,3, the Seminar for Majors. In addition, each major takes 10 related courses at the 200 or 300 level, chosen from among those courses throughout the college comprising the general curriculum in American Studies. The courses will be apportioned in a way that satisfies the interdisciplinary purpose of a major in American Studies and expresses each student's explicit intellectual goals, but every major is expected to take History 210-1,2 or an approved equivalent as early as possible in his or her undergraduate career. Seniors enroll in a three-quarter sequence, American Studies 390, and prepare a senior project under the direction of a faculty sponsor.
Projects vary according to the talents and inclinations of the majors.
A senior project may take the form of a long research paper, a field study in Chicago, or any number of alternative plans. Recent seniors have examined slave literacy laws in the antebellum South, the roots of the urban blues, the curriculum of Native American mission schools, the art of the Civil Rights movement, and many other topics. The program offers support for independent research off campus in connection with many of these projects. See the undergraduate catalog or the department for details on requirements for the major. American Studies does not offer a minor.