B.A. in American Studies

Program Director: Dr. Susan Kollin

2-179 Wilson Hall

P.O. Box 170595

Bozeman, MT 59717

Email: amerstudies@montana.edu

Visit the American Studies Website

The American Studies program is designed to meet the needs of students, including non-traditional majors and lifelong learners, who want to pursue a flexible, multi-disciplinary curriculum in American Studies. Students explore the experiences and values of the people of the United States as embodied in their history, literature, art, and other forms of cultural expression.

Foreign Language Requirements

All students are required to take 6 credits of multi-ethnic and/or global studies coursework or at least one year of a foreign language.

Program Focus Areas

All undergraduate students are required to choose one of three program focus areas:

  • American Arts - Students explore the creative role of music, film, and popular culture in shaping American values, desires, tastes, and behavior. They are invited to examine the ways in which the visual arts have shaped, and are a product of, the social, economic, and political developments that have defined the American experience.
  • American History - Students acquire a broad understanding of the interplay of culture, society, and political change in America's past, present, and future. This focus explores how present day problems are contingent on past actions and belief systems.
  • American Literature - Students will read poetry and prose, fiction and dramatic works of representative American writers. They will acquire an understanding of critical approaches to the study of literature and of the relationship between culture and literary studies.

Five-year BA/MA Degree Option

The American Studies program offers the unique opportunity for qualified undergraduate students to enter the American Studies Master of Arts program after completing three years of undergraduate coursework. Students seeking to pursue this option should begin planning their coursework during their freshman year. To learn more about this program, please visit the American Studies Undergraduate Graduate page.