About the Minor
Earning the Minor in African American Studies
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh offers an undergraduate minor in African American Studies (AAS). Students who choose this exciting complementary degree option will both broaden their education as well as enhance their employment possibilities after graduation.
When taking the required 21 units (22 for those earning teaching licensure) of study for the minor program, students will learn from scholarship about issues, ideas and experiences related to the history, culture, socioeconomic and political lives of African Americans. While the specific programmatic focus of the minor is on African Americans and the United States, students also may choose from courses that suggest obvious connections as well as important distinctions that exist between African America, African nations, and other parts of the African Diaspora.
The AAS minor is a degree program that can be coupled with any major study emphasis.
Three courses are required for all AAS minor degree candidates:
- African American Studies: African American Studies 100
- History: History 385 (History 201 or 202, prerequisites for History 385, will count as units for teaching licensure students)
- English: English 219
The remaining twelve units for earning the AAS minor must be divided in the following manner:
- Six (6) units, maximum, from specifically identified* courses in Music, Religious Studies, and English (in addition to 219);
- Six (6) units, maximum, from specifically identified* courses in Interdisciplinary Studies and 400-level Communications; and
- Three units (3), maximum, from specifically identified* courses in Sociology, 300-level Communications, and Political Science.
*Each semester courses in a number of disciplines will be taught that are identified specifically as also cross-listed with AAS, and therefore will count automatically toward the AAS minor. Other courses, if not identified as cross-listed but having a substantial amount of AAS-related course focus, may count towards the AAS minor with written approval from the AAS Coordinator prior to taking the course.
The courses offered as cross-listed choices for the AAS minor will vary from semester to semester. Working closely with both advisors and the Coordinator for AAS, students earning the minor may choose from courses that include (as available):
- Communications: 318, 347, 425, 426
- English: 219, 331, 376
- Geography: 353,354
- History: 385
- Music: 215, 216
For more information, contact:
Carmen Heider
Interim Director of African American Studies
heider@uwosh.edu
920-424-2254