28 courses with the subject AMST, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
AMST 1001American Identities3
Course covers how the diverse identities of Americans are constructed, defined, and explained. Introduces a variety of methods and approaches that constitute the field of American Studies. Through a range of sources, including history, fiction, film, and music, It explores individual, family, community, class, gender, ethnic, and racial identities in relation to regional and national identities as they have been defined in the post-World War II era. Typically offered:
Using digital archives, online mapping resources, scholarly readings, and classroom discussions, students will learn about structures of racial segregation in Rochester throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. In addition, students will come to understand that while each city’s history is unique, there are historical patterns of structural inequity that can be traced from place to place, allowing Rochester to shine a spotlight on wider, national trends. Attributes: LC YLIB ZCIV
In this learning community, we will explore how refugee communities in Rochester are a meaningful part of our city. We will examine both global and local dimensions of the relocation process (including how identity characteristics, such as race and nationality, impact who can achieve refugee status), and the central role of cultural, historical, and environmental factors that contribute to flight from one’s home country and resettlement in America. The role of place in this process will also be examined, by interacting with refugee communities in Rochester (such as parts of the Maplewood community) and corresponding support services (e.g. Mary’s Place, Re Attributes: LC YLIB ZCIV
What is American Studies? In this fun introductory course, we explore and analyze various dimensions of American life and culture, using material drawn from everyday life, such as popular music, movies, TV shows, social media platforms, and novels. Paying close attention to our everyday lives can give us insight into America’s social, artistic, historical, cultural, economic, and/or political contexts. Through observing, reading, discussing, and writing, this class introduces students to the basics of American Studies-the study of American culture through multiple perspectives. Course content will change based on emerging topics in American life, such as Typically offered:
Students study and practice skills central to academic and professional research through the development of inquiry-based projects. In their projects, student assert, support, and integrate their own positions into scholarly conversation based in research. Students develop competency in the location, evaluation, analysis and documentation of sources that represent a range of different perspectives on important issues. Typically offered:
This course investigates current issues in the media and examines their underlying connections to gender, race, and sexuality in American history. Topics covered may include: school shootings, bullying, urban education, locker room culture, gendered behavior codes, racial profiling, birth control, and media representation of sexuality. Texts include essays, films, television shows, songs, YouTube clips, and other media. Attributes: AMSS YLIB
Choose ANY FIVE electives: (consult Electives list) (15 credits) At least ONE of which must be at the 300- or 400-level At least TWO of which must be an American Studies/AMST prefix At least ONE of which must be a non-American Studies/AMST prefix *If both courses are taken, one course counts as an elective. Total: 18 credits Note: Only one course applied to a student’s major may also be used 2025-2026 Catalog » Academic Programs » Undergraduate » School of A
The United States is premised on the ideals of democracy and equality, but the realities of the nation’s past show that the United States has sometimes fallen short of those ideals. In this course, we consider the ways that race, gender, and class have helped shape “the American experience.” We use fiction, film, autobiography, photography, and the mass media to explore these themes. Typically offered:
While it is not uncommon to hear people discuss college life as somehow divorced from “real life,” that perception of higher education is inaccurate. Colleges and universities are buffeted by the same forces - economic, political, cultural, climatological - that impact the rest of the world. College life is real life and if “real life” involves civic engagement, then it stands to reason that civic engagement can be a meaningful part of college life. In this course, we cover some history of students being civically engaged in the United States, particularly over the past fifty years or so. We scan the landscape of contemporary higher education and some of the social issues found pressing on college campuses across the country. Armed with a better understanding of the variety of campus issues being addressed in the contemporary United States, students have the opportunity to add their voices to the chorus of students seeking to make a meaningful impact on the world. Students work collaboratively to identify issues of importance and to find ways to move the needle on tough issues in the direction that they would like to see things changed. Attributes: AMSS CCE YLIB
This course explores American education in our local schools from a place-based perspective. Through stories, interviews, and research we will analyze education in Rochester as a way to understand the inextricable relationship between our communities, our schools, and our citizens. We will investigate how our county and our city came to be the way they are today - in terms of racial segregation, class inequity, graduation rates, and college-readiness - in order to better understand why inequities persist. We will ask questions like the following: “What does the future of public education in Monroe County look like?” We will hear from community members, re Typically offered:
In this discussion-based class, we read four or five memoirs, you write both your own memoir and a research paper, and groups facilitate a Bookclub for each text. Memoir is creative nonfiction writing that shows us a glimpse into the life of another person. Unlike autobiography, it does not chronicle the span of a person’s life, but rather gives us insight into one experience-growing up in childhood poverty, being the Black son of a white mother, being the only Chinese American family in a small town, questioning one’s sexuality in high school, being a child of divorce, being a Mexican American border agent, and more! Memoirs can be a tool to help us unde Attributes: CIA
This course investigates how American laws have marked different categories of people (via race, gender/sex, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, immigration status, disability status, etc.) and/or people’s bodies as illegal or criminal and examines how these categories impact the treatment of people from different identity groups (using historical examples, such as women/girls during the Salem witch trials and contemporary examples like Daniel Prude in Rochester, NY). We examine who has been labeled “criminal” and what people or acts are considered “crimes,” in order to develop a better understanding of how these notions are culturally bound and how Typically offered:
This course is about some of the myths that non-Native people have about Native Americans, where those myths came from, and the effects of those myths on Native American sovereignty and dignity. Through class readings, films, news articles, and discussions, we work to dismantle some of those myths in order to allow for some of the truths of Native Americans - both historical and contemporary - to come to light. Attributes: AMHU DEI YLIB
In this course, students are introduced to methods for analyzing a wide range of primary source materials relevant to the study of American culture. In any given semester, students may examine issues related to the myth of the frontier, immigration, the politics of race and/or gender, popular culture; all of which are central topics in the field of American Studies. The materials examined in any given semester may include literature, photography, art, magazines, films, political documents, etc. Analytical skills are foregrounded over theoretical models. For American Studies majors, this course serves as preparation for more advanced study of American cult Typically offered:
In this course, students trace how the theoretical and methodological approaches to some of the key questions in American Studies have changed over the years, leading students to an understanding of both the contingency of knowledge and the complexity of the field. Students are asked to examine how other scholars have approached some of the material they encountered in AMST 300D, and students begin to enter into a dialogue with other practitioners of American Studies. Attributes: YLIB ZRES
In this course, students will develop an inquiry-based project by conducting in-depth research using discipline-specific practices that result in transferable research and writing. Students will build on the critical thinking and writing competencies they have previously acquired to engage topics and ideas in the field. Students will formulate important questions or problems, identify and examine appropriate sources, and use evidence in order to substantiate their own claims. They will acknowledge and address alternative explanations in scholarly conversations and revise their work accordingly. Outcomes of the project will be communicated in both written Typically offered:
*If both courses are taken, one course counts as an elective. **Optional for education majors Electives - 27 credits Nine of the remaining American Studies elective courses can be any American Studies course and select courses from African American Studies, Arts, Economics, English, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Religious Studies, Sociology, an Any American Studies course (AMST prefix) (3)
Washington Experience semester is offered through The Washington Center. Permission of the advisor, the department chair and TWC liaison (Dr. Monica Litzenberger) is required to register. Attributes: YLIB
Washington Experience semester is offered through The Washington Center. Permission of the advisor, the department chair and TWC liaison (Dr. Monica Litzenberger) is required to register. Attributes: YLIB
Washington Experience semester is offered through The Washington Center. Permission of the advisor, the department chair and TWC liaison (Dr. Monica Litzenberger) is required to register. Attributes: YLIB
These courses allow qualified students to gain work experience in a variety of settings related to their major. Internships are graded S/U and are applied as electives. Permission of the department chair is required to register. Typically offered:
This course is intended to allow upper-division majors to explore specific topics of special interest not covered in the regular American Studies curriculum. Working with a faculty advisor, the student prepares a written proposal that is submitted to the department chair for approval. Completion of the Independent Study/Tutorial Authorization form is required. Attributes: YLIB
