Old department finds new groove

As one of the oldest American Studies programs in the country, UB's Center for the Americas fought to stay alive for over 40 years.

Now, with an old name, new faculty and skyrocketing enrollment, the program is here to stay.

"The American Studies program is one of the oldest and most recognizable programs in the country, and I think that is what attracts students to it," said Donald Grinde, chair of the department.

After being called the Center for the Americas for the last few years, the department was given back its original name, American Studies, this fall.

"All of a sudden the department was back, and as soon as it was back, students noticed it," said Bruce Jackson, professor of English and American studies. "The program provides a way of looking at American culture and American life I don't think you get any place else."

According to Grinde, in one year the American Studies faculty has doubled and there's been a 256 percent increase in the number undergraduates.

Grinde said the department is multidisciplinary and gives students flexibility to pursue their interests in preparation for a variety of careers. But because the program crosses lines into several academic fields, American Studies has often been considered unorthodox.

"It was always a controversial program," said Michael Frisch, a professor of history and American studies. "It was seen as a not fully respectable approach by many of the standard departments."

Frisch, a senior research scholar who chaired the department for seven years, said there have been many "battles" with the administration over the legitimacy and resources of American Studies. In some ways, because of those battles, the department both fell apart and outgrew its original faculty.

"The program survived all of these political and administrative struggles for the best reasons, which were serious students and faculty members doing important work," Frisch said.

The interesting thing about American Studies, Frisch said, is that it looks at the cultures we all came from and how they relate to the United States and what the perspective would be as someone coming from the outside.

American Studies is also unique because professors also seek to learn about students' cultural backgrounds.

"A couple years ago two new people were hired, Don Grinde and Kari Winter," Jackson said. "They ratcheted up immediately the kinds of offerings possible both in Native studies and American studies in general."

Kari Winter, an associate professor in the department, said newfound administrative support and a larger faculty have both been key factors.

"The current dean of the college of arts and sciences, Dr. Uday Sukhatme, has been notably supportive of the development of American Studies," Winter said. "The existing faculty is very stellar in their scholarly accomplishments but the workload was too intense for a small faculty."

Winter said during hard economic times, the administration sometimes tries to eliminate certain programs, including American Studies.

But now, "there has been a certain kind of energy," Winter said. "There has been a happy administrative environment, the strengthening of the faculty, and then that has come together beautifully with certain things like American Indian studies, race and gender studies, popular culture, media and film."

Sophia Ng, a junior in American Studies with a concentration in Asian American studies, said the addition of new faculty has helped the department.

"The fact that the faculty has doubled in the department affects the amount of courses that are offered and it would just offer a breath of fresh air in terms of teaching styles and bring new ideas," Ng said.

"I think American Studies is a great way to educate ourselves about the darker side of American history," Ng added. "The issues concerning Americans usually are not mainstream news.

Andrew Johnston, a senior in American Studies, said he thinks the increased interest in his major is great, and those who are considering a major in American Studies should keep an open mind and be ready to learn something new.

"There are not too many people who consider it as a major choice, since UB is more of a technical and science school," Johnston said.