Greeting from the Chair

Dr. Matt Mancini, Department Chair

American Studies is one of the most exciting and challenging of all the humanities and social science disciplines. Here at Saint Louis University, American Studies is a freestanding, autonomous academic department with its own fulltime faculty and a carefully designed, developmental curriculum.

Our department provides a systematically interdisciplinary approach to the historical study of the cultures of the United States, and to the critical analysis of their ongoing evolution. Within the framework of the great Jesuit humanist tradition, the American Studies Department trains students in the skills of clear thinking, writing, and speaking, as well as the abilities associated with interpreting literary texts, evaluating historical documents and artifacts, applying humanistic and social science methods and theoretical approaches, and reflecting morally about the problems and issues they address in the classroom. The Department’s mission includes advancing knowledge in the field through significant research and publication as well as training future scholars and teachers. The Department also educates scholars for professional futures in education, government, business, law, and other areas, and for participation as thoughtful citizens in the multicultural nation and world in which they will live and work.

Our department is growing—both in faculty and in enrollments. In four years, we have hired five new faculty—truly the best available nationally. Our graduate enrollment has grown by almost fifty percent in that time, and now numbers about sixty. Meanwhile, we have also developed a completely new curriculum for a top quality undergraduate program. Whether you are a major, a minor, a student with an interest in the field but not wanting to major, or a graduate student seeking the finest postgraduate training, Saint Louis University’s American Studies Department is the place to be.