Graduate Program
Objectives of Work
American Studies is an area studies program focused on the cultural and intellectual life of the United States of America. Its students analyze the American past and present from the perspectives of several disciplines, learn to synthesize their knowledge, and learn the habit of mind needed for cultural analysis.
Work in American Studies can lead to and enrich a wide variety of careers. The majority of our students become teachers and scholars at the college and university level, but significant numbers have gone into journalism, radio, TV and film work, museum curating, law, public relations, editing, advertising, government service, secondary school teaching and administration, and creative writing.
The Program of Work
The courses that American Studies students take outside the department train them in areas of expertise relevant to their central interests. With the approval of the graduate advisor in American Studies and in the area chosen, these courses may be in any University department (for example, Anthropology, Art, English, Government, History, Radio/ Television/Film, Sociology), or program (African and African American Studies, Folklore, Latin American Studies, Mexican-American Studies), or professional school (the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the schools of Business Administration, Architecture, Education, Law). Individual faculty are especially interested in: American intellectual, cultural and artistic life; the West and the role of the region in American culture; museum studies and material culture; religion, medicine, science, and technology in American life; the public arts and popular culture; the relations of American culture with Europe, Asia and Africa; environmental studies; women's studies, African-American and Mexican-American Studies.
Academic and Professional Integrity
Integrity and trust are fundamental to the Department of American Studies. They contribute directly to the quality of graduate education and they reach far beyond the campus to your overall standing within the academic community. Our department relies on The University of Texas Student Standards of Conduct for enforcement, but promotes ideals that are higher than merely enforceable standards
The University expects all to students to obey the law, show respect for other members of the university community, perform contractual obligations, and maintain absolute integrity and the highest standards in scholastic work and teaching responsibilities. In short, each graduate student is expected to work as a professional in every respect.
The faculty of the Department of American Studies, in turn, seeks to formulate a curriculum that will prepare you for advanced work in a wide range of scholarly fields. It is the responsibility of individual faculty, and of the department as a whole, to provide clear objectives and responsive feedback to all areas of graduate work. Ultimately, the student is responsible for seeking adequate academic advice, for knowing and meeting degree requirements, and for enrolling in appropriate courses to ensure orderly and timely progress toward a degree. Frequent adviser contact provides students with current academic information and promotes progress toward educational goals.
For more on academic integrity, and especially avoiding problems of plagiarism, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acint_student.php