American Studies

American Studies

American Studies is an interdisciplinary program that provides opportunities for students to study American culture, society, identity, and politics by combining coursework in a wide variety of disciplines into a single major.

Major & MinorCourses

Upcoming Courses

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American Studies Open House-Fall 2025

Th, October 16, 4:30-6 pm Humanities Center Commons

Interested in what is new with our American Studies program?  Come out to talk with faculty and students majoring or minoring in American Studies.  Satisfy your craving with sips and snacks before supper, then aim outside to watch the sun set over campus.
2025 senior award recipients

American Studies Senior Awards 2025

Jessica Durrett, Rilwan Akinola, and Maggie Crowe received awards of excellence for their contributions and accomplishments in the American Studies program.  At an April celebration dinner, AMST board members celebrated these seniors with bright futures.
Mia Lazar

Student & Alumni Success

Mia Lazar (’24 graduate & alumni) with American Studies minor, traveled through the U.S. enhancing and expanding, Documerica, an environmental website. Supported by UR’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program and financial award by Virginia Humanities Rapid Grant, Lazar collaborated with Lauren Tilton, Associate Professor of Digital Humanities.  Learn more.

Alumni Accomplishments
Browder Class Museum 07 S24

Experiential Learning

In American Studies, students explore U. S. culture and society, developing an international lens. Small classroom discussion seminars and hands-on learning broaden understanding of America in a global context through museum art visits, field site work, and more.

Upcoming Events

Sep 27
Family Weekend: Meet the A&S Deans
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Apr 17
A&S Honors Convocation
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Apr 17
A&S Student Symposium
12:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Apr 23
A&S Books & Roses
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
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Greetings from the Richmond Exhibit
  • On the first day of class, the American Studies Capstone Seminar, taught by Nicole Sackley, associate professor of history and American studies, gathered at UR Downtown and walked to The Valentine, just five blocks away.
  • Students explored the This is Richmond, Virginia exhibition at The Valentine with Meg Hughes, curator of archives.
  • At the Virginia Historical Society, the class met with Paige Newman, associate archivist for collections processing, to learn about their archives.
  • At the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Assistant Curator of American Art Christopher Oliver, ’04, led a tour of the exhibition The Likeness of Labor. The class viewed photographs that were not included — a great lesson in curatorial practice.
  • Each student played a critical role in the development and installation of the exhibition. Caroline Weber, ’16, puts up the labels in the Wilton Companies Gallery at UR Downtown.
  • Greetings from Richmond, Virginia: Visitors through the Centuries includes 26 visitors — from Black Hawk to Lizzie Armitstead — spanning three centuries. Each student told the story of two visitors.
  • The exhibition features vintage postcards that celebrate Richmond as a city of history, leisure, and commerce - themes in the exhibition - and show what visitors were writing home about. Guests can take a postcard and share using #GreetingsFromRichmond.
  • The students, Nicole Sackley, and Alexandra Byrum, UR Downtown educational programming coordinator, gather at UR Downtown for the RVA First Fridays exhibition opening. Nearly 100 students, faculty, staff, and community members were in attendance.
  • Karolina Castro, ’16, answers questions as a friend explores guidebooks from Boatwright Library’s Special Collections. The exhibition also features Richmond tourism videos from 1955, 1977, and 2012 and tourist iteneraries from 1850, 1910, 1963, and 2016.
  • “Richmond — capital of the Cavaliers — a city that is mellow and yet modern, where the rustle of the past may still be heard amid the bustle of the present,” stated the 1937 publication, A Tour of Historic Richmond, one of five quotations that were chosen
  • Guests explore 19th and early 20th century visitors to Richmond below the words of Theodore Roosevelt, “I am captivated with it all; I am tempted to stay here.” (1905).

Faculty Highlights

Dr. Matthew Oware
Oware awarded at Colloquy

Matthew Oware, Irving May Professor of Human Relations, received the 2025 Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Richmond at Colloquy.

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Alicia Díaz
Díaz explores creative practice as research that prompts new questions

Alicia Díaz, associate professor of dance, reflects on the MAPA dance project in “Excavando juntas en el paraíso,” in categoría cinco. The collaborative performance took place in the ruins of the Cine Paradise, a former movie theater in downtown Río Piedras, Puerto Rico.

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Dr. Laura M. Fernández
Fernández presented on Latina cliché in U.S. media

Laura Fernandez, Assistant Professor of Latin American, Latino, and Iberian Studies, presented "Las Raras: The New Gothic Latina Trope in US Popular Media," at Colby College's Center for the Arts & Humanities Play! Seminar.

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Dr. Lauren Craig Tilton
Tilton Promoted & Named Robins Professor

Lauren Tilton was promoted to professor of digital humanities and was appointed the E. Claiborne Robins Professor of Liberal Arts. Tilton specializes in analyzing, developing, and applying digital and computational methods to the study of 20th and 21st century documentary expression and visual culture.

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Resources

Digital America

Digital Scholarship Lab

Contact Us

Mailing address:
American Studies Program
Carole Weinstein International Center, Room 306
211 Richmond Way
University of Richmond, Virginia 23173

Phone: (804) 484-1471
Fax: (804) 484-1577

Program Coordinator: Stephen Brauer
Academic Administrative Coordinator: Lynn Hardwicke