Departments

• As of fall 2023, approximately 149 departments were awarding degrees in American studies at colleges and universities in the United States. These departments included large, freestanding departments in the discipline as wellas programs within departments awarding degrees in multiple disciplines. In the latter case, the department chairs were asked to report information for American studies only.
• Of 149 departments awarding degrees in the discipline, 59 (or 40%) were awarding graduate degrees, and 32 (21%) were awarding PhDs.

Faculty

• American studies departments employed 1,440 full- and part-time faculty members in fall 2023, with an average of 10 faculty members per department (and a median of 7).
• Approximately 70% of American studies faculty members either had tenure or were on the tenure track.
• Faculty members employed full-time with tenure or on the tenure track taught an average of 25 undergraduate students in fall 2023, while full-time faculty employed off the tenure track taught an average of 67 undergraduates. Faculty employed part-time taught an average of 61 undergraduate students in the fall term.
• While 29% of American studies departments had made at least one new hire for the 2023–24 academic year, amounting to 150 new permanent faculty, the departments had lost an average of 140 faculty per annum over the previous two years. Among the faculty who left, 57% had retired.
• An estimated 29% of American studies department chairs thought the number of tenure-line faculty in their departments had increased from fall 2020 to fall 2023, while 33% estimated that their tenure-line faculty count had decreased during that period. In addition, 21% of chairs in the discipline thought the number of nontenure-track faculty had increased over the same period, while 21% thought the number had fallen.
• Looking ahead, 8% of American studies department chairs expected the number of tenure track faculty in their departments to increase over the next three academic years, while 34% thought the number would decrease. In contrast, 11% thought their nontenure-track faculty count would increase, while 8% thought the number would shrink. The share of chairs expecting an increase in either type of faculty was small compared to most other disciplines.
• About 22% of the departments had a faculty member come up for tenure during the previous two years. Averaging over these two years, 30 faculty members were granted tenure per annum, none were denied tenure, and 10 left prior to a tenure decision.
• Because it is not appropriate for a person to assign a demographic identity to another person, the survey did not ask department chairs to report their faculty members’ races or genders. However, the survey did ask chairs to describe themselves. Women constituted 50% of the chairs in American studies departments in fall 2023, and 78% identified their race/ethnicity as white.

Undergraduate Students

• In fall 2023, departments awarding degrees in American studies had undergraduate course enrollments of 53,510 students, with an average enrollment of 359 per department. (These are duplicated enrollment figures, with students taking multiple courses in the discipline counted in every course.) The average is skewed upward by large programs, typically at research universities, which had significantly larger-than-average enrollments, as indicated by a median enrollment of just 200.
• Approximately 65% of American studies chairs thought undergraduate enrollments had held steady or increased from fall 2020 to fall 2023.
• On average, American studies departments awarded 9 bachelor’s degrees per department in the 2022–23 academic year (with a median of 9 per department).These departments had an average of 18 juniors or seniors with a declared major in the discipline (and a median of 14).
• In the 2022–23 academic year, American studies departments awarded an average of 9 minors per department in the discipline (with a median of 7) and 2 certificates or other microcredentials per department (with a median of 4). While 45% of departments awarded minors that year, only 10% of departments awarded a certificate or other microcredential—one of the smallest shares among all surveyed disciplines.

Graduate Students

• Degree-granting departments in American studies had 700 enrollments in graduate courses in fall 2023, with an average of 12 enrollments (and a median of13) per department with a graduate program. Those were the smallest numbers among the 14 disciplines surveyed.
• Approximately 880 students were working toward graduate degrees in American studies. The average number of students pursuing an advanced degree in American studies was 15 per department that granted such degrees (with a median of 15).
• The 32 departments awarding PhDs admitted an average of 2.5 new doctoral students into their programs in fall 2023, for a total of 80 new doctoral students in the discipline.

Departmental Practices and Concerns

• Approximately 34% of department chairs were optimistic about the future of American studies at their institutions, while 31% were pessimistic. (The remainder were either unsure or neither optimistic nor pessimistic.)
• The survey found that 31% of the chairs in American studies were concerned about the academic freedom of faculty members in their department. Among those departments, the most common concern was threats to such freedom by boards of trustees (cited by 82% of chairs). The second most common source of concern was academic administrations (cited by 73%).
• While 90% of American studies departments provided research support for their full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members, and 77% offered such support for full-time nontenured faculty, only 33% offered such support for part-time faculty.
• Asked what their departments had done in recent years to attract additional majors, 56% of American studies department chairs reported outreach to students who were in other majors or undeclared. The second most common recruitment strategy, reported by 49% of chairs, was to offer events, classes, or other activities designed to aid students in thinking about future careers.
• An estimated 36% of departments supported the career development of their undergraduates by offering (and for a small share of departments, by requiring) occupationally oriented lectures, while 64% offered or required internships, and 36% offered occupationally oriented coursework or workshops.
• In departments awarding doctorates in the discipline, 63% offered occupationally oriented lectures for their doctoral students; 50% offered internships; and 50% offered occupationally oriented coursework or workshops.