The Office of the Provost approved a proposal from the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis to house three majors: urban studies, American studies and a new social and cultural analysis major.
The new social and cultural analysis major will have four distinct tracks, according to interim department chair Danielle Clealand.
American studies and urban studies will be kept as standalone degrees due to “their distinctive interdisciplinary architecture,” while the new social and cultural analysis major would provide “a global, transnational focus,” according to the final proposal.
Students pursuing the new social and cultural analysis major will choose from four concentrations: comparative race, ethnicity and gender studies; borders, migration and diaspora; politics, law and medicine; or data science and technology. The comparative race, ethnicity and gender studies concentration is considered the major’s general path, according to an Oct. 29 email from Clealand to faculty.
The social and cultural analysis major includes 27 total hours, including six hours each of foundational coursework and coursework outside of their concentration, 12 hours of coursework within their concentration and three hours pursuing a research project or internship.
Clealand wrote in an email to faculty that the proposal was formed using feedback from faculty, the department’s executive committee and its major curriculum committee.
In September, an earlier proposal to keep the department’s African and African diaspora studies, Mexican American and Latina/o studies, women’s and gender studies and race, indigeneity and migration majors was rejected by the provost’s office. However, faculty had until Nov. 1 to submit an updated proposal in order for the major to be available to students in Spring 2027.
“Although this major has been forced upon all of us, I hope that we have come up with a model that speaks to our work that we can get behind,” Clealand wrote.
