American Studies
American Studies Faculty.
Edward Whitley, Ph.D, Director of American Studies
Art, Architecture and Design: Berrisford Booth, M.F.A. (Maryland Institute College of Art) Associate Professor
English: Edward J. Gallagher, Ph.D. (Notre Dame) Professor; Dawn Keetley, Ph.D. (Wisconsin) Associate Professor; Seth Moglen, Ph.D. (U.C. Berkeley) Associate Professor; James B. Peterson, Ph.D. (U. Penn.), Associate Professor of English; Stephanie P. Watts, Ph.D.(Missouri-Columbia, Associate Professor; Edward Whitley, Ph.D. (Maryland), Associate Professor of English; Mary C. Foltz, Ph.D. (University of Buffalo) Assistant Professor
History: Stephen H. Cutcliffe, Ph.D. (Lehigh) Professor; William R. Scott, Ph.D. (Princeton) Professor; Roger D. Simon, Ph.D. (Wisconsin) Professor; Gail A. Cooper, Ph.D. (U.C. Santa Barbara) Associate Professor; Monica Najar, Ph. D. (Wisconsin) Associate Professor; John Pettegrew, Ph.D. (Wisconsin) Associate Professor; John K. Smith, Ph.D. (Delaware) Associate Professor; Michelle LeMaster, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins) Assistant Professor; Kim Carell-Smith, Ph.D. (Delaware) Professor of Practice.
Journalism: Jack Lule, Ph.D. (Georgia) Professor; Kathleen K. Olsen, PhD. (North Carolina) Associate Professor; Jeremy Littau, Ph.D. (Missouri); Assistant Professor
Political Science: Richard K. Mathews, Ph.D. (Toronto) Distinguished professor; Edward T. Morgan, Ph.D. (Brandies) Professor; Brian Pinaire, Ph.D. (Rutgers) Associate Professor; Albert Wurth, Ph.D. (North Carolina) Associate Professor
Religion Studies: Norman Giardot, Ph.D. (Chicago) Professor; Michael L. Raposa, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania) Professor
Sociology and Anthropology: James R. McIntosh, Ph.D. (Syracuse) Professor; Ziad Munson, Ph.D. (Harvard) Frank Hook, Associate Professor; Heather Johnson, Ph.D. (Northeastern)`Associate Professor; Jacqueline Krasas, Ph.D. (Southern California) Associate Professor; Tanya L. Saunders, Ph.D. (Michigan) Assistant Professor
American Studies is the interdisciplinary study of American thought, literature, and culture–both past and present. Born in the early years of the Cold War and with an implied commitment to American exceptionalism, American Studies has since transformed itself into a multifaceted critical examination of United States society. Comparative frameworks along with close attention to applying cultural and literary theory to such matters as violence, citizenship, democracy, community, poverty and prosperity, politics, race, and gender in the United States make American Studies an intellectually sophisticated yet practical course of graduate study.
M.A. in American Studies
A Master of Arts degree in American Studies is offered in the College of Arts and Sciences. Candidates for the master’s degree must complete at least 30 credit hours, 18 of which must be at the 400 level. In addition to the Theory and Method course, students must choose two humanities courses and two social science courses. Students must also take one special topics seminar. The other courses for the master’s degree will be divided between; thesis credits, American Studies courses in areas other than history or literature/film. To fulfill the thesis requirement, students will write one longer thesis or two thesis papers that are aimed at conference presentation and/or publication.
Graduate Certificate in Documentary Film
Designed to augment social science and humanities graduate students' education and training for employment inside and outside of the academy, this certificate program covers 1) the historical development and distinctive attributes of documentary film, including the genre's impressive capacity for drawing large viewerships and, with that, communicating research-based knowledge to general publics; and 2) the production of documentary text--from conceiving of a topic and "storyboarding" a narrative; to taking interviews; to composing and filming a variety of shots; and to editing visual and audio material into final digital form. The program broadly defines documentary film to facilitate understanding and production of texts from Youtube-like social media to feature-length theatrically-released films.
Completion of 12 credits, no more than 6 credits at the 300-level.
Required courses
AMST 425 Community Study through Documentary Film (3)
AMST 433 Documentary Film Production (3)
Two courses in consultation with Graduate Certificate Director; possible courses include:
HIST 438 - Techniques in Public History: Legal and Ethical Concerns in Documentary Work
COMM 318 - Globalization and Communication
HIST 305 - Public History
HIST 336 - Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley
HIST 337 - History and Community Memory
JOUR 325 - New Media and Social Change
American Studies Courses:
AMST 400. American Studies: Theory and Method (3)
An introduction to the theoretical orientations and methodological strategies of American Studies. Seminar involves extensive reading as well as application of theory and method to students’ research.
AMST 401. Special Topics in American Studies (3)
Graduate seminar focused on one particular subject area in American Culture.
AMST 402. Independent Study (3)
Individually supervised course in the area of American Culture. Prerequisite: consent of the program director.
AMST 425. Community Study through Documentary Film (3)
A film production course concentrating on lighting, sound, shooting interviews (among other types of shots), and Final Cut Pro editing; matched with producing a team-made thirty-minute documentary film on a local historical or contemporary topic of critical interest
AMST 433 Documentary Film Production (3)
An independent study mode of course awarding credit for the production of a 30-minute documentary film that meets two standards: 1) high production value, and 2) scholarly content based on detailed research and driven by critical analysis.
AMST 490. Master’s Thesis (1-6)
Independent work, with a faculty member, on a single master’s thesis or two thesis papers. Topic approved by individual faculty member. Typically taken in the last semester of course work.