American Studies Undergraduate Major (BA, BS, HBA, HBS)
Available only at OSU-Cascades.
An interdisciplinary major that engages American culture in its historical, contemporary, and global contexts. Examines American culture through a variety of media including film, music, literature, history, politics, and art. Teaching faculty members are from several different disciplines and students approach course objectives from many scholarly vantage points.
Major Code: 865
- Broad, critical knowledge of American cultural history.
- Demonstrate the ability to write clear analytical prose.
- Ability to read and assess documentary evidence from a variety of written genres.
- Capacity to compare and integrate knowledge from several disciplinary perspectives.
- Developed research skills, including handling of primary and secondary sources, library use and online scholarly search tools.
- Ability to interpret and synthesize the meaning in American culture of a range of material objects.
- Familiar with the importance of American cultural contexts in a global society.
- Developed sense of engaged, critical citizenship.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Baccalaureate Core | ||
| Select 51 credits | ||
| Lower Division | ||
| Required Courses | ||
| ENG 253 | *SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE: COLONIAL TO 1900 | 4 |
| ENG 254 | *SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE: 1900 TO PRESENT | 4 |
| Select two of the following: | 8 | |
| *HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES | ||
| *HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES | ||
| *HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES | ||
| AMS Lower Division Electives | ||
| Select one of the following: | 3-4 | |
| *COMPARATIVE CULTURES | ||
| *LANGUAGE IN THE USA | ||
| *LITERATURE OF AMERICAN MINORITIES | ||
| *HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION | ||
| *HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION | ||
| *HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION | ||
| *WORLD HISTORY III: THE MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY WORLD | ||
| *INTRODUCTION TO UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS | ||
| *INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY | ||
| Upper Division | ||
| Required Courses | ||
| AMS 311 | TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES (this course is repeatable with different topics) | 4 |
| AMS 350 | *AMERICAN CULTURE AND THE VIETNAM EXPERIENCE | 4 |
| AMS 406 | PROJECTS | 1 |
| ART 386/ENG 386 | A CULTURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART AND LITERATURE: PART I | 4 |
| ART 387/ENG 387 | A CULTURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART AND LITERATURE: PART II | 4 |
| ART 388/ENG 388 | A CULTURAL HISTORY OF AMERICAN ART AND LITERATURE: PART III | 4 |
| AMS Upper-Division Electives | ||
| Select 12 credits of the following: | 12 | |
| *PEOPLES OF THE WORLD-NORTH AMERICA | ||
| LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND SOCIETY | ||
| *ANTHROPOLOGY, HEALTH, AND ENVIRONMENT | ||
| DIRECTIONS AND ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY ART | ||
| INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION | ||
| TOPICS IN SPEECH COMMUNICATION | ||
| ETHNOGRAPHY OF COMMUNICATION | ||
| CULTURAL CODES IN COMMUNICATION | ||
| *THE AMERICAN NOVEL: BEGINNINGS TO CHOPIN | ||
| *THE AMERICAN NOVEL: MODERNIST PERIOD | ||
| *THE AMERICAN NOVEL: POST-WORLD WAR II | ||
| *NATIVE AMERICAN LITERATURE | ||
| *AMERICAN WOMEN WRITERS | ||
| ^STUDIES IN POETRY | ||
| STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, CULTURE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT | ||
| ^STUDIES IN AMERICAN LITERATURE | ||
| *GENDER AND RACE IN AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT | ||
| *SCIENCE, RELIGION, AND POLITICS | ||
| *THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND POLICIES | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND POLICY | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND POLICY | ||
| SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY | ||
| *SOCIAL INEQUALITY | ||
| GENDER AND SOCIETY | ||
| RURAL SOCIOLOGY | ||
| ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY | ||
| Required | ||
| AMS 406 | PROJECTS | 1 |
| Total credits required for graduation | 180 | |
| * | Baccalaureate Core Course (BCC) |
| ^ | Writing Intensive Course (WIC) |
American Studies Final Portfolio (Must be submitted during the student's final term)
- Pick three essays you wrote during the course of your program in American Studies that you feel are representative of your most meaningful work. These may be your best essays, but they may be essays in which you struggled with difficult material in an attempt to better understand it. In other words, which essays are most meaningful to you in your experience earning an American Studies degree at OSU Casacades?
- Incorporating at least one of the American Studies Outcomes, write a three-page cover letter explaining why you chose these essays and how they reflect what you have learned and experienced in the process of earning your degree in American Studies at OSU-Cascades.
Major Code: 865