Graduate Programs in American Studies

Graduate Certificate in American Studies

As an interdisciplinary field, American Studies is devoted to studying U.S. culture and its relationship to the world beyond its borders. This certificate provides advanced training in this interdiscipline while helping graduate students to become more capacious in their teaching and research.  Working toward this certificate will provide junior scholars a space to think outside of their disciplines and to craft a genuinely multi-modal dissertation project.

 

Requirements

The student must first be enrolled in a graduate program at the University of Connecticut.

Twelve credit hours of coursework at the 5000/6000-level, approved by the Director of American Studies, which shall include the following:

  • AMST 6000: American Studies: Methods and Major Texts (3 credits).  Cross-listed as ENGL 6800 and HIST 6000
  • AMST 6850: American Studies: Special Topics (3 credits).  Cross-listed as ENGL 6850 and HIST 6850
  • two courses (6 credits) listed outside the student’s home department or which are explicitly multidisciplinary in focus. “American Studies: Special Topics” may be counted for one of these two courses if taken a second time with a different topic. The American Studies program maintains a list of courses that are pre-approved to satisfy this requirement for students enrolled outside the department that houses the course.  The Director may approve other courses in addition to those that are pre-approved.

 

Enrolling in the Graduate Certificate in American Studies

The enrollment process is simple.  Students interested in the graduate certificate are advised to first meet with the Director of American Studies.  You will then need to apply for the certificate through the Graduate School through the same link you originally applied to your graduate program at UConn: https://grad.uconn.edu/admissions/apply-to-uconn/.  If you matriculated to UConn before fall 2019, you will need to create a new account.  If you began your graduate studies at UConn in fall 2019 or after, you can use the same account you created when you originally applied.

You will also need to provide a copy of your current UConn transcripts (these should include current courses in progress).

If you receive a prompt to “Submit Payment” after you select the “Finalize Application and Pay” button, contact Graduate Admissions at gradadmissions@uconn.edu to request that your $75 application fee be waived.

 

Filing for the Graduate Certificate in American Studies

As you near the end of your coursework, you are required to fill out two forms to complete the certificate, in this order:

Internal Plan of Study Form, Graduate Certificate

Registrar’s Plan of Study Certificate Form

These documents should be completed no later that at the very beginning of the student’s final semester of coursework.  The Registrar’s Plan of Study should be submitted to the attention of Sandra Cyr.  Please note that on the Registrar’s Form, the “Major Advisor” is the Director of American Studies, not your dissertation advisor.