Our Master of Arts Program in American Studies serves: * students interested in the study of historically contested meanings of culture, community, democracy, citizenship, politics, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality in the United States; * continuing and returning students seeking further grounding in American Studies and its interdisciplinary methods; * professionals in education and government; * journalists, community leaders, and organizers searching for a historical and cultural understanding of their own society. The program provides the intellectual tools and theoretical background in historical and cultural analysis to enable students to reflect critically on historical and cultural changes and controversies in the US. The interdisciplinary core courses ask students to pay close attention to the interplay between political and social discourse and literary, artistic, and cultural expression; and to how public life and culture have been shaped by many groups with differing access to social and political power and cultural legitimacy.

Career opportunities for students of American Studies are as diverse and multifaceted as the program itself. Students interested in law, government, museum and library work, media and communications, business (national and international), teaching (elementary through university), and public and social services have benefited from majors and minors in the study of American society and culture. Graduates of our program have gone on to graduate programs in law, library science, international relations, history, and American Studies; they have careers as high school and college teachers, lawyers, real estate consultants, business managers, archivists, tour guides, and administrators of educational, state and federal government programs, including the Metropolitan District Commission, the Food Stamp Program, and the National Park Service. A double major, or a minor in American Studies, is particularly useful for students who want to enrich and broaden their majors in Anthropology, Art, English, History, Management, Political Science and Sociology. There is not any systematic national data on the career paths of American Studies B.A.s. But there is some, and we are trying to gather more. According to John Stephens, Executive Director of the American Studies Association, undergraduate American Studies majors take the same diverse career paths that History and English majors do. From data gathered at institutions that have kept track of their majors, we know that many have found employment in the public sector. Some of our own past graduates have worked for the National Park Service, the Food Stamp program, as legislative aides, in museums, library, and historical societies, as well as the foreign service and the international departments of private companies who staff require expertise in "telling America's story."