American Studies is a dynamic interdisciplinary field of study of U.S. culture and history and one of the fastest-growing fields of study in the world. Founded in the 1930s to foster academic analysis of American 'identity,' culture, and national interests, American Studies has become today a flashpoint for examination of the role of the U.S. in a transnational world, the place of gender, race, sexuality and class in the process of nation-building, and the politics of academic study related to empire and globalization. American Studies at Purdue perceives its current place in the national and international field as fostering dynamic interchange and debate for students and faculty committed to original scholarship and ideas. The program is among the most intellectually and demographically diverse in the College of Liberal Arts. Its faculty represent nine academic departments (English, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Communication, Political Science, Educational Studies, Curriculum and Instruction, and Philosophy) and two academic programs (African American Studies and Women's Studies) all of which may be a major or minor field of concentration for the M.A. and Ph.D. The affiliated program faculty has grown from 17 to 30 since 2005. In 2010, the program added a new undergraduate major and minor.

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