About the American Studies Program

 Trinity College

...Despite the impact of the American idea upon the world, the "American"...has not (fortunately for the United States) been finally defined. This struggle between Americans as to what the American is to be is part of the democratic process through which the nation works to achieve itself. Out of this conflict, the ideal American character -- a type truly great enough to possess the greatness of the land, a delicately poised unity of divergences -- is slowly being born.
--Ralph Ellison

Since 1974, when the major was first introduced at Trinity, alumni with a degree in American Studies have pursued a wide range of postgraduate endeavors. Having mastered the discipline required to think, read, and write critically, these graduates pursue a range of careers from law and publishing to business, teaching, and community organizing.

  Degree Requirements

 The American Studies major consists of twelve courses, as follows.
1.    American Studies 203:  American Conflicts and Cultures.  This 
       course is ordinarily taken in the spring of the sophomore year.
2.    American Studies 301:  Junior Seminar I:  American Texts
3.    A senior seminar in American Studies
4.    A senior exercise, consisting of ONE of the following:
       a.  A two-credit, two-semester thesis, ordinarily a research paper
           of at least 75 pages.  This thesis will be read by the thesis
           adviser and at least one other professor who regularly 
           participates in the program.
      b.  A one-credit, one-semester independent research project,
           ordinarily a research paper of 40 pages and written in the
           second semester.  The project will be read by the project
           adviser and at least one other professor who regularly
           participates in the program.
      c.  A second seminar (either a second American Studies 
           seminar or a senior seminar cross-listed in American Studies).
5.    Student-designated thematic concentration of four courses, at least
       two of which must be at or above the 300 level.  This concentration,
       designed by the student in consultation with his or her adviser, must
       be defined and titled by the end of the fall of the junior year.  Up to
       one internship may count toward the concentration (as a 200-level
       course) if it is directed by a member of the American Studies faculty.
       Examples of possible concentrations include:  race, gender, ethnicity,
       class, popular culture, protest movements, law, and society.
6.    Three additional courses in American Studies.  To ensure adequate
       breadth and depth of study, students must take at least four courses
       at or above the 300 level, from at least three different departments
       or programs.  The required Junior Seminars do not count toward
       this requirement.

 

  The Curriculum

Trinity's American Studies Program provides a wide range of course offerings. In fact, the program enjoys national prominence for the centrality given the study of race, class and gender in the program. Here is a small sampling of the courses available.

  Independent Study

Independent study in the form of tutorials is available to all American Studies majors, providing an excellent opportunity to further explore the rich curriculum or to pursue an area of individual special interest. Recent independent projects include The Films of Spike Lee and Stories of Hartford.

  A Distinguished Faculty

Trinity's American Studies Program derives its excellence from its faculty of distinguished professors, many of whom enjoy national reputations and all of whom are active scholars. Involved and spirited, they bring to their teaching extensive current knowledge and the valuable historical perspective that comes with years of study in a field. At the same time, they are enthusiastic teachers who enjoy working with undergraduates, encouraging them and providing direction for their study and research.

Professor of History Joan Hedrick, who teaches in the American Studies Program, won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for her book, Harriet Beecher Stowe -- A Life. This biography of the longtime Hartford resident also was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and named to The New York Times list of Notable Books of the Year. Professor Fred Pfeil is the recipient of the Pushcart Prize for fiction. {and Professor Barbara Sicherman is the author of Alice Hamilton: A Life in Letters.

Professor Jan Cohn recently published The Covers of the "Saturday Evening Post": Seventy Years of Outstanding Illustration from America's Favorite Magazine. Professor Jerry Watts is the author of Heroism and the Black Intellectual, which is volume one of Politics and the Afro-American Intellectual. Professor Paul Lauter has edited a volume that has been described as the most discussed and most comprehensive multicultural anthology of American literature ever published. Professor Cheryl Greenberg is the author of "Or Does it Explode?" Black Harlem in the Great Depression and editor of a A Circle of Trust: Remembering SNCC.

  A Strategic Location

Trinity's location in Hartford adds significantly to American Studies. The Watkinson Library, a reference and rare books collection within the Trinity library, is especially rich in Americana. Local literary and museum collections at the Connecticut State Library, the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Old State House in Hartford, the Mark Twain House and the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, the Connecticut and Wethersfield historical societies, the Webb Deane Stevens Museum, and Mystic Seaport are outstanding -- and, in some cases, living -- resources particularly relevant to American Studies majors. The Hartford Studies Project, a close exploration of late-19th and early-20th century Hartford, is directed by History Professor Susan Pennybacker and Sociology Professor Stephen Valocchi -- both of whom teach in the American Studies Program. This collaborative work demonstrates the kind of inquiry that Trinity's location invites, as does a recent student project by James McKeon, who has both investigated the history of Hartford's Broad Street and written a collection of poems on the life of the Street itself.

Trinity's strategic location is near a rich variety of museums, art institutions and archives, and close to libraries and museums in New Haven, New York, and Boston.    Altogether, Trinity's location affords a wealth of opportunities to enhance learning both in and out of the classroom. The Trinity library's 900,000 books and periodicals are a rich resource right on campus.

  Other Opportunities

American Studies majors have held internships at a variety of nearby locations, including The Hartford Courant -- the nation's oldest continuously running newspaper, and its weekly publication, Northeast Magazine; The Southside News; and at the Mark Twain House and Harriet Beecher Stowe Center.

American Studies professors offer program majors the chance to participate in and learn from ongoing research projects -- an opportunity seldom available to undergraduates. The Hartford Studies Project has proven to be an outstanding research experience, as have research ventures involving The Old State House and The Connecticut State Library.

American Studies majors often gain valuable new insight on American life through a semester or year spent abroad in an approved study program of another college or university.

  Modern Technology

Trinity's campus-wide computer network plays an integral part in every student's educational experience. Every dormitory room at the College is wired for direct computer networking, offering a link to other students, to faculty, to the CTW library system, to the campus-wide Local Area Network, and, through the College's subscription, to the Internet and the World Wide Web.

  Life After Trinity

Just as American Studies encompasses a broad menu of artistic, sociological, literary and historical, so, too, is it a strong foundation for many different career pursuits. American Studies majors have embarked on a variety of interesting paths.

Joy Wright '95 was one of just 60 winners nationwide of a prestigious Watson Fellowship, enabling her to travel to Chile, Spain, and Guatemala to complete a study entitled "The Pentecostal Explosion in Latin America and Spain." Nancy Albert, salutatorian of the Class of '88, photographed and wrote about the vanishing mill towns of New England in her senior year, went on to earn an M.A. in American Studies, and has recently been involved in the Hartford Studies Project, helping to catalog visual images.

Some other graduates who were American Studies majors at Trinity:

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