Publications: Directory of Graduate Programs

University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Concentration in American Studies, Department of English

Degrees Awarded: MA, PhD

Academic System: Semester

Enrollment:

Tuition: In-state graduate $857.00 + $1,788 fees; Out-of-state $4,968.50+ $1,788 fees

Deadlines: Graduate admissions 1/15 (Fall), financial aid 1/15

Financial Aid: University Fellowships, teaching assistantships, tuition waivers

Affiliations and Internships: Northampton Historical Society

Program Specializations: women’s studies, race and ethnicity, literature

Graduate students in American Studies—a concentration within the Department of English—engage in an interdisciplinary approach to American literature and culture. Several core seminars on models, methods, and materials for interdisciplinary study, plus courses from other relevant disciplines, provide the groundwork for students to pursue theoretically informed, integrative research into their special interests. The program allows maximum flexibility in planning an individual program of study; from the start, students are encouraged to forge their own combinations of courses, subject matter, and perspectives. While our program familiarizes students with a range of disciplinary tools and discourses, it provides depth in one area—namely, literary studies, literary theory, and cultural studies—which gives students a professional identity in American literature and American studies augmented and enriched by perspectives from other fields.

MA Requirements: Master’s candidates must take a sequence of ten courses: two American Studies seminars, two courses in American literature at the 700 level, one course in American history, one course in comparative cultures or cultural theory, and four courses selected in consultation with an American Studies adviser.

PhD Requirements: All students going on for the PhD must take a two-hour oral qualifying exam. Students take two courses in each of three fields of study, one of which will be American literature, and the other two chosen in consultation with an American Studies adviser. In addition, two American Studies seminars, “Materials for the Study of American Culture” and a Dissertation Workshop, must be taken. At the completion of course work, all students take a written examination based on the student’s work in three fields of study, at least one of which should be preparation for the dissertation. Proficiency in one foreign language is required for the PhD.

American Studies Faculty

BROMELL, Nicholas (PhD, Stanford Univ., 1987); Associate Professor of English; 19th-century American literature, 20th-century popular culture, intellectual history

CARLIN, Deborah (PhD, Harvard Univ., 1987) Associate Professor of English; late 19th- and early 20th-century American fiction, queer studies, women’s studies

CHAMETZKY, Jules (PhD, Univ. of Minnesota, 1958) Professor of English; ethnic theory, Jewish-American literature, American realism

CULLEY, Margo (PhD, Univ. of Michigan, 1972) Professor of English; women’s studies, autobiography, ethnic literature

DAVIDOV, Judith Fryer (PhD, Univ. of Minnesota, 1973) Professor of English; interdisciplinary methods, arts, material culture, women’s studies, photography

DOYLE, Laura (PhD, Brandeis Univ., 1987) Associate Professor of English; race and gender studies, the novel

KINNEY, Arthur (PhD, Univ. of Michigan, 1963) Professor of English; 20th-century American literature and culture

KNOPER, Randall (PhD, Indiana Univ., 1986) Associate Professor of English; popular culture, 19th- and early 20th- century literature and culture, cultural theory

LOWANCE, Mason I. (PhD, Emory Univ., 1967) Professor of English; early American literature, American religious history, slavery and slave narrative

MAIRA, Sunaina (EdD, Harvard Univ., 1998) Assistant Professor of English; youth culture, Asian American studies

SKERRETT, Joseph T., Jr. (PhD, Yale Univ., 1975) Professor of English; African American literature and culture, American literature 1870 to present, ethnicity

SPENCER, Jenny (PhD, Univ. of Iowa, 1982) Associate Professor of English; performance studies, feminist studies, modern and contemporary theater and drama

WELBURN, Ron (PhD, New York Univ., 1983) Professor of English; 19th- and 20th-century America literature, Native American literature, musicology, social history, education

Contact

Concentration in American Studies
Department of English
170 Bartlett Hall
Amherst, MA 01003-0515
Phone: 413/545-0979
Fax: 413/545-3880
E-mail:
www.umass.edu/english/asp/

Chair/Director: Joseph T. Skerrett, Jr.

Admissions

University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Graduate Admissions Office
530 Goodell Building
140 Hicks Way
Amherst, MA 01003-9333
Telephone: 413-545-0721
Fax: 413-577-0010
e-mail:
http://www.umass.edu/gradschool/applicants.html