American Studies, BS

Requirements for Students Matriculating in or before Academic Year 2024-2025. Learn more about University Academic Regulation 3.1.

Minimum Overall Grade Point Average: 2.00
Total Hours: 120

General Education Requirements
English Composition
See Academic Regulation 3.5
ENGL 1113Composition I3
or ENGL 1313 Critical Analysis and Writing I
ENGL 1213Composition II3
or ENGL 1413 Critical Analysis and Writing II
or ENGL 3323 Technical Writing
American History & Government
HIST 1103Survey of American History3
or HIST 1483 American History to 1865 (H)
or HIST 1493 American History Since 1865 (DH)
POLS 1113American Government3
Analytical & Quantitative Thought (A)
MATH or STAT course designated (A)3
Humanities (H)
Courses designated (H)6
Natural Sciences (N)
Must include one Laboratory Science (L) course
Courses designated (N)6
Social & Behavioral Sciences (S)
Courses designated (S)3
Additional General Education
Courses designated (A), (H), (N), or (S)10
Subtotal Hours40
Diversity (D) & International Dimension (I)
May be completed in any part of the degree plan
Select at least one Diversity (D) course
Select at least one International Dimension (I) course
College/Departmental Requirements
First Year Seminar
(Transfer students with 15 hours exempt)1
Arts & Humanities
See note 2.a.3
Natural & Mathematical Sciences
See note 2.b.9
Foreign Language
See note 3
0-6 hours
Upper-division General Education
6 hours outside AMST, American History and American Literature
See note 2.c.
Subtotal Hours13
Major Requirements
Minimum GPA 2.50. Minimum grade of "C" in all AMST upper-division courses. No more than 9 hours in Major Requirements may be taken from 2000-level courses.
AMST 3223Theories and Methods of American Studies3
AMST 4973Senior Seminar in American Studies3
American Studies
Select 9 hours (6 hours must be upper division) of AMST courses other than AMST 3223 & AMST 4973; and courses listed in the following four categories.9
American History
Select 6 hours of the following (3 hours must be upper-division):6
American Thought and Culture: Survey (H)
Religion in America (DH)
African Diaspora History (DH)
American Colonial Period to 1750 (H)
Era of the American Revolution (H)
Early National Period, 1787-1828 (H)
Antebellum America, 1828-1850 (H)
Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1877
U.S History 1877-1919 (H)
United States History, 1919-45 (DH)
United States History Since 1945 (DH)
The Modern West (H)
Oklahoma History (DH)
Women in the American West (DH)
Trans-Mississippi West (DH)
American Southwest (DH)
The American South to 1860
Native American History (DH)
History of Food (H)
History of the North American Borderlands (DH)
Historic Preservation
Digital Methods in History
African American History, 1619-1865 (DH)
African American History, 1865-Present (DH)
Black Intellectual History (DH)
U.S. Foreign Relations to 1945 (H)
U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1945 (H)
History of Sexuality in the United States (D)
American Military History (H)
US History through Popular and Unpopular Music (DH)
History and Film (H)
American Cultural History to 1865 (H)
American Cultural History Since 1865 (H)
Frontier in American Memory (H)
American Urban History (H)
Economic History of the US (S)
American Environmental History (H)
Vietnam War (HI)
Gender in America (DH)
Cold War (HI)
America in International Perspective (H)
American Literary and Cultural Studies
Select 6 hours of the following (3 hours must be upper-division):6
Introduction to Film and Television (H)
Survey of American Literature I (H)
Survey of American Literature II (DH)
Readings in Literature by Women (DH)
Native American Literature (DH)
Readings in Postcolonial and Multiethnic Literature
African-American Literature (DH)
Readings in Popular Fiction
History of American Film (H)
Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in American Film (D)
Television and American Society (DH)
Readings in the American Experience (DH)
Language in America (DS)
Studies in Early American Literature
Studies in 19th Century American Literature
Studies in 20th Century American Literature
Literature of Diversity
Studies in Native American Literature
Studies in Regional Literature
Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies
Select 6 hours of the following:6
Introduction to Africana Studies (DH)
Introduction to American Indian Studies (D)
American Indian Sovereignty (D)
Television and American Society (DH)
Film And American Society (H)
The Arts and American Society
History Of American Art (DH)
Introduction to Digital Humanities
History of American Art (DH)
History of 20th Century Art (HI)
Art Since 1960
Native American Art and Material Culture
Historical Geography of North America to 1800 (H)
Digital Worlds: Culture, Identity, and Community (H)
Historical Geography of North America since 1800 (H)
Geography of Music (H)
Introduction to Gender Studies (DH)
Theorizing Sexualities (D)
Race and Reproduction in the U.S. (D)
Gender and Representation (D)
Feminist Theories
Theorizing Men and Masculinities
America's Ethnic Music (DH)
Survey of Rock and Roll I
Survey of Rock and Roll II
Philosophy of Film (H)
Philosophy in Literature (H)
Philosophy, Self, & Society (H)
Ethical Theory (H)
Social & Political Philosophy (H)
Philosophy of Religion (H)
Philosophy of Race (DH)
MLK, Jr., Malcolm X, & Philosophy of Race (DH)
Social Media & Philosophy (H)
American Philosophy (H)
Philosophy of Law (H)
Pragmatism (H)
Philosophy & the Arts (H)
Religion in Early America (H)
Social Sciences
Select 6 hours of the following:6
Crime, Law and American Culture (S)
The Death Penalty in America (S)
American Economy: The Past and Present (S)
Urban and Regional Economics
Urban Geography (S)
Political Geography (IS)
Economic Geography (S)
Cultural Geography (S)
Legal Geography of Native America, Sovereign Tribal Nations, and Indian Country (DS)
Geography Of Oklahoma (S)
Exploring North America and Diversity (DS)
Environment and Development
Geography of Travel and Tourism
Sport, Place and Society (S)
Transnational Women's Studies (S)
The Individual And The Law
Political Parties
Voting and Elections
Pol Campaigns And Candidacy
U.S. Congress
The American Presidency
Public Policy
Public Opinion and Polling
Money, Media And Politics
Lobbying: the Art of Influence and Manipulation
State and Local Government
Introduction to Political Thought
Politics in Contemporary Film
Minorities in the American Political System (DS)
State Courts and the Bar
Race, Politics and Sports (D)
Courts and Judicial Process (S)
Advanced Topics in American Politics
American Foreign Policy
Social Movements
Urban Politics and Management
American Political Thought
Democratic Theory
Oklahoma Politics (S)
Gender and Politics
U.S. Constitution: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
U.S. Constitution: Separation of Powers
Social Problems (DS)
Racial and Ethnic Relations (DS)
Collective Behavior and Social Movements
Juvenile Delinquency (DS)
Religion, Culture and Society
Sociology of Aging (DS)
Gender and Work (DS)
The Death Penalty in America (S)
Sociology of Sexualities (S)
Criminology (S)
Social Stratification (S)
Environmental Sociology (S)
Environmental Inequality (S)
Technology and Society
Oklahoma Environmental Sociology
Sociology of Gender (S)
Sociology of Families (S)
9 hours upper-division courses9
Subtotal Hours48
Electives19
May need to include 6 hours of a foreign language. See note 3.
May need to include 6 hours upper-division general education outside AMST, American History and American Literature (see note 2.c.) and 1 additional upper-division hour.
Subtotal Hours19
Total Hours120

Other Requirements

  • See the College of Arts and Sciences Requirements.
  • Upper-Division Credit: Total hours must include at least 40 hours in courses numbered 3000 or above.

College of Arts and Sciences Requirements

  1. Hours in One Department: For B.A. and B.S. degrees, no more than 54 hours in one department may be required to meet degree requirements. Courses used to satisfy the General Education English Composition, U.S. History, American Government, and Mathematics or Statistics requirements will not count toward the 54-hour maximum required from one department.
  2. A&S College/Departmental Requirements
    1. Arts and Humanities are defined as any course carrying an (H) designation or courses from AMST, ART, DANC, ENGL (except ENGL 3323 Technical Writing) HIST, MUSI, PHIL (except PHIL 1313 Logic and Critical Thinking (A), PHIL 3003 Symbolic Logic (A) and PHIL 4003 Mathematical Logic and Computability), REL, TH, and foreign languages.
    2. Natural and Mathematical Sciences are defined as any course from the following prefixes: ASTR, BIOC, BIOL, CHEM, CS (except CS 4883 Social Issues in Computing), GEOL, MATH, MICR, PBIO, PHYS, and STAT; or courses from other departments that carry an (A) or (N) general education designation.
    3. Six upper-division hours are required from General Education or any CAS courses outside the student’s major department. This requirement may be satisfied by courses also used to satisfy any part of a student’s degree program (i.e., in General Education, College Departmental Requirements, Major Requirements or Electives).
    4. Non-Western Studies Requirement for B.A. and B.F.A.; One course in Non-Western Studies (N.W.). This requirement may be satisfied by courses also used to satisfy any part of a student's degree program (i.e., in General Education, College Departmental Requirements, Major Requirements or Electives).
    5. The College of Arts & Sciences requires a minimum 2.0 GPA in all major requirements and a minimum 2.0 GPA in all major-prefix courses applied to the degree.
  3. Foreign Language Proficiency
    1. The foreign language requirement for the B.A. may be satisfied by 9 hours college credit in the same language, which must include 3 hours at the 2000-level, or equivalent proficiency (e.g., passing an advanced standing examination; TOEFL exam; presenting a high school transcript which demonstrates the high school was primarily conducted in a language other than English; etc.). Computer Science courses may not be used to satisfy this requirement. Currently Arabic and Mvskoke are not offered at the 2000-level at OSU.
    2. The foreign language requirement for the B.S., B.M. and B.F.A. may be satisfied by presenting a high school transcript which demonstrates two years of study of a single foreign language (passing grades at second-year level of study). It may also be satisfied by 6 hours college credit in the same language, which must include language courses 1713 and 1813, or equivalent proficiency (e.g., passing an advanced standing examination; TOEFL exam; presenting a high school transcript which demonstrates the high school was primarily conducted in a language other than English; etc.). Computer Science courses may not be used to satisfy this requirement.
    3. In addition to a. and b., students pursuing teacher certification must meet novice-high foreign language proficiency by presenting a high school transcript which demonstrates two years of study of a single foreign language with no grade below B. Or, students may complete 3 hours college credit in a single language with no grade below C (or pass an advanced standing examination, College Level Examination Program (CLEP) exam, or Oral Proficiency Interview developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, equivalent to 3 hours of college credit.) Or, students may meet the requirement by transfer of documentation of meeting the foreign language competency from one of the teacher education programs in the State of Oklahoma approved by the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.
  4. Exclusions. Courses with ATHL or LEIS prefixes and leisure activity courses may not be used for degree credit.

Additional State/OSU Requirements

  • At least: 60 hours at a four-year institution; 30 hours completed at OSU; 15 of the final 30 or 50% of the upper-division hours in the major field completed at OSU.
  • Limit of: one-half of major course requirements as transfer work; one-fourth of hours earned by correspondence; 8 transfer correspondence hours.
  • Students will be held responsible for degree requirements in effect at the time of matriculation and any changes that are made, so long as these changes do not result in semester credit hours being added or do not delay graduation.
  • Degrees that follow this plan must be completed by the end of Summer 2030.

Finish in Four Plan of Study

The plan below is an example of how students can successfully complete degree requirements in four years. This suggested class schedule plan may be used as a guide and can be adjusted based on individual needs. Students are required to meet with an academic advisor prior to enrollment each semester to plan their class schedule, and students are ultimately responsible for completing all degree requirements.

Plan of Study Grid
Freshman
FallHours
ENGL 1113 Composition I 3
AMST 2103 Introduction to American Studies (DH) 3
General Education courses 9
 Hours15
Spring
ENGL 1213 Composition II 3
General Education courses 12
 Hours15
Sophomore
Fall
General Education courses 15
 Hours15
Spring
Major, College, and Elective courses 15
 Hours15
Junior
Fall
AMST 3223 Theories and Methods of American Studies 3
Major, College, and Elective courses 12
 Hours15
Spring
Major, College, and Elective courses 15
 Hours15
Senior
Fall
Major, College, and Elective courses 15
 Hours15
Spring
AMST 4973 Senior Seminar in American Studies 3
Major, College, and Elective courses 12
 Hours15
 Total Hours120