Degrees for Education

Sponsored by the five undergraduate Claremont Colleges, American Studies is a multidisciplinary major that encourages students to think critically and creatively about American culture. 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, sociology, anthropology, government, music, and the visual arts. In addition, majors take multidisciplinary courses that use materials from different disciplines to explore a particular issue in American life. The interdisciplinary approach to this major affords the student many career choices, some following graduate study, including professions of law, library science, journalism, business, and museum curatorship.

The Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies offers an interdisciplinary approach to exploring the hitherto neglected experiences of Americans of Asian heritage. The major goal of the department is to communicate the experiences of Asians and Pacific Islanders as an American ethnic group. Courses offered as part of the Asian American Studies program examine the important issues and concerns of Asian Americans, including their history, social organization, and culture. The program seeks to promote teaching, research, community service, and cultural activities related to Americans of Asian heritage, while also preparing students for various careers in the community, private or public sector, along with graduate work.

Asian Studies is a cooperative program of The Claremont Colleges which provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to pursue an interdisciplinary program of study. The main programs of concentration available within Asian Studies are East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, China and Southeast Asia.

The Intercollegiate Department of Chicano Studies offers a curriculum with a multi-disciplinary approach to the study, research, interpretation and investigation of the Chicano/Latino experience. The courses are open to all students of The Claremont Colleges. In recognizing the vital presence of Chicanos and other Latinos in the entire nation, Chicano Studies provides significant preparation for students pursuing careers in education, social work, public policy, law, medicine, business and scholarly research.

Film Studies is part of an intercollegiate program which provides an opportunity for undergraduate students to pursue an interdisciplinary course of study. The program emphasizes the history, theory, and critical assessment of film, especially in terms of its impact upon, and reflection of, contemporary culture and society. The interdisciplinary nature of the program allows students to connect the study of film to other interests, and, in cooperation with the other Claremont Colleges, to combine studies in theory and criticism with experience in film production.

Claremont McKenna College offers a sequence in Gender Studies through participation in the six campus joint program in Women’s Studies and Gender Studies. Gender Studies is a program that is particularly well-suited to the CMC focus on leadership in business, public affairs, and the professions.

The Gender Studies sequence is designed to accompany a major in another field. With its emphasis on the relationships between gender and society historically and cross-culturally, and on the changes now occurring in the roles of women and men, on the participation of women in the major institutions of society, and on women themselves, a Gender Studies sequence is an ideal accompaniment to virtually any major at CMC. The transcript indicates official completion of this sequence. Interested students must consult with Professor Humes, the Gender Studies faculty advisor for CMC.

The intercollegiate and interdisciplinary Program in Legal Studies seeks to illuminate law from a liberal arts perspective, with ideas and methods from disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. It is also intended to help unify and increase the student’s appreciation of these other disciplines by using them to study law as a central social phenomenon and repository of values.