American Studies

Associate Professor Aimee Bahng, program coordinator
Steering Committee: Bahng, Boyer, Rockwell, Tompkins³

Visiting Assistant Professor Boyer
Anne Tessier, academic coordinator

Sponsored by the five undergraduate Claremont Colleges, American Studies is an interdisciplinary major that encourages students to think critically and creatively about culture, society, and politics in the United States. The American Studies Program is coordinated by an intercollegiate faculty whose aim is to introduce students to the complexity of the American experience. Majors take courses in a variety of disciplines such as literature, history, ethnic studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, music, media studies, and the visual arts. In addition, majors take multidisciplinary courses that use materials from different disciplines to explore particular issues in American life. The interdisciplinary approach to this major affords the student opportunities for graduate study and a variety of career choices, including education, law, library science, journalism, business, and museum work.

While many faculty at The Claremont Colleges offer courses that fulfill the American Studies major, the faculty listed below are considered core members of the program:

PO: Aimee Bahng (GWS), Joti Rockwell (MUS), Kyla Wazana Tompkins (GWS)
CMC: Lily Geismer (HIST), Daniel Livesay (HIST), Diana Selig (HIST), Tamara Venit-Shelton (HIST)
HMC: Isabel Balseiro (LIT), Erika Dyson (REL), Alfred Flores (ASAM), Jeff Groves (LIT), David Seitz (GEO)
PZ: Bill Anthes (ART), Todd Honma (ASAM), Susan Phillips (EA), Suyapa Portillo Villeda (CHST), Claudia Strauss (ANTH), Urmi Willoughby (HIST)
SC: Wendy Cheng (AMST), Amsale Alemu (HIST), Jih-Fei Cheng (FGSS), Martha Gonzalez (CHST), Thomas Koenigs (ENGL), Warren Liu (ENGL), Leila Mansouri (ENGL), Maryan Soliman (AFRI)

¹On leave Fall 2024	²On leave Spring 2025	³On leave 2024-25

Read more about our learning objectives:
www.pomona.edu/administration/academic-dean/learning-objectives