Student learning outcomes for the American Studies Ph.D. program are geared towards disciplinary training and development of research expertise, successful coursework completion, and dissertation writing (including possible publication, grants, and fellowships) toward the degree. One of the leading programs of our kind in the United States, and globally, we are ranked as the second-best American studies department at a public institution in the country, and fifth overall. We provide our students with valuable degrees that address the vital and timely questions that local, national, and global societies face today. Student learning in the department tends to approach the study of US culture from a local, global, regional, and transnational perspective, and our courses challenge students to examine issues from a variety of geographic scales and locations. Student learning is facilitated by a small community of core departmental faculty with a large group of affiliated faculty from a number of interdisciplinary areas of study, including race, class, gender and sexuality, immigration, politics, and social justice.