About the Undergraduate Program

The Department of 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 program offers five separate majors in American Studies and Ethnicity, African American Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, and American Popular Culture; and minors in American Studies and Ethnicity, American Popular Culture, Jewish American Studies and Native American Studies.

Drawing upon the cultural resources of a cosmopolitan city on the Pacific Rim, and upon the strength and diversity of departments in the USC College of Letters, Arts & Sciences and of USC’s professional schools, these degree programs provide a richly interdisciplinary curriculum that is unique for its constitution of American Studies and Ethnic Studies as a 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 department offers a two-semester honors program for qualified students, first identified in ASE 350 or by the program advisor. Students spend their first semester in the honors program in an honors senior seminar, ASE 492, focused on developing their research and methods for the honors thesis. During the second semester, all honors students are required to take ASE 493, in which each completes a thesis project on a topic of his or her own choosing under faculty direction. Contact the program advisor 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.

Contact Us

Department of American Studies & Ethnicity

Located in Kaprielian Hall on the University Park campus, ASE faculty, graduate students, and staff are available to assist you with information and resources about our academic programs and research specialties.

Address

University of Southern California

3620 South Vermont Avenue

Kaprielian Hall 462

Los Angeles, California 90089-2534