American Studies

The American Studies Program provides students with an interdisciplinary curriculum devoted to the examination of American civilization - its culture, institutions, intellectual tradition, and the relationships of its people - making possible a unified, comprehensive approach to American life and thought.

The great variety of institutions, subcultures, and traditions encompassed by American civilization provide a broad and fascinating field of study that has emerged in the past 50 years with America's world power status. For the past 25 years, Fairfield University has offered an undergraduate program in American Studies with an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the complexities of the American experience.

American Studies is popular with students both as a major and minor, because it offers them insights into the society in which most of them grew up and where they will live and work for the rest of their lives. The flexibility of designing a program of study from a wide variety of courses is one of the most attractive aspects of this major. Because the program combines so well with other majors or minors, it offers an extra edge in moving into professional life or graduate study.

Double majors that combine American Studies with a traditional academic discipline are common. You can major in American Studies and combine it with a major or minor in history or politics in a way that enriches every aspect of your studies. The possibilities are many, and your choices add significantly to your qualifications for postgraduate careers.

The success of the program's graduates in business, law, education, and public service provides ample evidence of its place in the great tradition of liberal arts education.