Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

American Studies and Ethnicity

Chair: Nayan B. Shah, Ph.D.

Director, Graduate Studies: Lanita Jacobs, Ph.D.

Director, Undergraduate Studies: Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D.

Director, American Studies: Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D.

Director, African American Studies: Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D.

Director, Asian American Studies: Dorinne Kondo, Ph.D.

Director, Chicano/Latino Studies: Veronica Terriquez, Ph.D.

Professors: Alice Echols, Ph.D.* (English); Felix Gutierrez, Ph.D. (Journalism); Judith Halberstam, Ph.D.; Sherman Jackson, Ph.D.* (Religion); Dorinne Kondo, Ph.D. (Anthropology); Manuel Pastor, Jr., Ph.D.* (Sociology); Laura Pulido, Ph.D.; David Román, Ph.D.* (English); John Carlos Rowe, Ph.D. (English); George J. Sánchez, Ph.D.*; Nayan B. Shah, Ph.D.

Associate Professors: Sarah Banet-Weiser, Ph.D.* (Communication); Judith Jackson Fossett, Ph.D.* (English); Macarena Gómez-Barris, Ph.D.; Sarah Gualtieri, Ph.D.* (History); Thomas Gustafson, Ph.D.* (English); Stanley Huey, Jr., Ph.D. (Psychology); Lanita Jacobs, Ph.D.* (Anthropology); Kara Keeling, Ph.D. (Cinematic Arts); Joshua David Kun, Ph.D. (Communication); Lon Kurashige, Ph.D. (History); Curtis Marez, Ph.D. (Cinematic Arts); Maria-Elena Martinez, Ph.D. (History); Teresa McKenna, Ph.D. (English); Viet Nguyen, Ph.D.* (English); Leland Saito, Ph.D. (Sociology); Francille Rusan Wilson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professors: Juan De Lara, Ph.D.; Edwin Hill, Ph.D. (French and Italian); Shana Redmond, Ph.D.

American Studies and Ethnicity integrates humanistic and social scientific perspectives and brings them to bear on an examination of the United States with a particular emphasis on comparative study of the peoples, ­cultures, history and social issues of the Western United States. The department offers four separate majors in American Studies and Ethnicity, African American Stud­ies, Asian American Studies, and Chicano/Latino Studies; and minors in American Studies and Ethnicity, American Popular Culture and Jewish American Studies. The graduate program offers a Ph.D. for students interested in broad interdisciplinary training at an advanced level to study the peoples, ­cultures and institutions of the United States in courses that integrate modes of ­inquiry from the humanities and the social sciences.

Drawing upon the cultural resources of a cosmopolitan city on the Pacific Rim and upon the strength and diversity of its professional schools as well as departments in the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, these degree programs provide a richly interdisciplinary curriculum that is unique for its constitution of American Studies and Ethnic Studies as comparative and interethnic program that takes as its focus a region — Los Angeles, California and the West — marked by challenging social and cultural changes.

Honors Program

The program offers a two-semester honors program for qualified students, first identified in AMST 350 or by the program adviser. Students spend their first semester in the program in an honors senior seminar, AMST 492, focused on developing their research and methods for the honors thesis. During the second semester, all honors students are required to take AMST 493 in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her own choosing under faculty direction. Contact the program adviser for further information. To graduate with honors, program majors must successfully complete an honors thesis and have a minimum GPA of 3.5 in their major course work.