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Master of Arts (MA) Program

Graduates of the two-year tuition-free American Studies MA program at the ASC are equipped with specialized knowledge to understand the various cultural and social phenomena of the United States of America and the Western Hemisphere at large. They also have systematized and specialized knowledge of the terminology, theory, and methodology of interdisciplinary American Studies concerned with the Americas.

What you will learn

The two-year tuition-free MA Program in American Studies at the ASC comprises a highly individualized, research-oriented curriculum focused on the various cultural and social phenomena of the United States and the Western Hemisphere at large. Depending on their interests, students can pursue coursework in American literature, media, culture, society, history, and politics.

ASC graduates possess skills and competences allowing them to compete successfully in multiple career paths and professions, including media, culture, education, administration, foreign service, international organizations, business, foreign trade, journalism, and tourism. We attribute our graduates’ robust job placement rates to the fact that we provide rigorous academic preparation while simultaneously fostering a culture of mentoring and extracurricular education. A number of our graduates also continue their education in doctoral programs in Poland and abroad in a range of disciplines.

MA Program for 2020/21

Semester 1

Hemispheric Lecture: International Relations in the Western Hemisphere

Key Readings in American Studies

Two of the following research proseminars of your
choice (one in humanities and one in social sciences):

Social Movements and Social Change in Contemporary America
Power and Society in the Americas
American Political Parties: The Past and the Present
Popular Genres in the United States
Politics in American Audiovisual Media
Slavery and the Making of the Americas

Academic Writing MA

Advanced English or Spanish – various levels following
placement test

Semester 2

One of the following research lectures of your choice:

“Never Ain’t Here Yet”: The Western, a National Art Form
Writing against Slavery: Early American Abolitionist Discourses
and Their Repercussions

Three research proseminars of your choice:

The listings for Spring 2021 are not finalized, but in the previous semesters course offerings included:

Cities and Immigrants
Photography in American Literature
American Political Parties: The Past and the Present
Contemporary American Cinema
Social Movements and Social Change in Contemporary America
Haunted America: Horror and Politics
Issues in American Political Thought
Transatlantic Modernisms

Advanced English or Spanish – various levels following
placement test

Semester 3

MA Seminar I

Texts in American Culture/Texts in Latin American Culture

Two senior research lectures:

The Fall 2021 course offerings are not finalized yet. Fall 2020 options for second-year students include:

Cultural Diversity of the Western Hemisphere
US and Poland
Imaginative Resonances: Literature and Science in the 19th-Century America.

Two elective courses:

The Fall 2021 course offerings are not finalized yet. Fall 2020 options for second-year students include:

Gender, Populism, and the New Culture Wars: Social and Cultural
Change in the Trump Era
Post-secularism and Religions in the Time of Globalization
The New Normal
Images of Native Americans.

Practical project

Semester 4

MA Seminar II

Open lectures

You need to collect 30 credits worth of open lectures offered by the ASC and other departments. Individual lectures typically earn you 2 or 3 credits each.

1 or 2 elective courses offered by other departments at UW worth the cumulative of 6 ECTS points.

Program download

Program for MA students entering the ASC in 2019-2020

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the limit for the number of places available in the year 2020-2021 in the MA program?
We are allowed to admit 70 candidates; besides, we have 3 places for students transferring from other universities or other programs.

2. Do I have to register for the exam, besides registering in the IRK online system?
No, there is no need to do that. By registering in the IRK online system, you automatically register for the exam.

3. If I am traveling on the day of the exam or because of some other reason simply can’t show up for the exam, is there a way for me to take the entrance exam online from a distance?
No, to be admitted to the MA program you have to show up in person and take the exam. It’s scheduled for July 13, 2020, though due to the COVID-19 pandemic it may be postponed until a later date. There may be a second round of admissions in September.

4. The entrance exam predates my BA diploma exam. Can I take the entrance exam anyway?
Yes. Just be sure to file your diploma or a certificate attesting to the completion of the BA exam by September 30, 2020. The diploma is necessary for the admission to become complete; only after you submit all the required documents, the diploma included, will we be able to issue an official decision.

Course catalogues

Over the years the American Studies Center has offered a variety of courses for students to choose from. The catalogues are a quick and convenient tool to browse through the Center’s course offerings at the particular point in time.

Download The Latest Course Catalogue

 

Previous Catalogues

 

Class Attendance Rules

A student enrolled in an ASC class is allowed to miss no more than two class meetings in a given semester (no medical documentation is required). In case of further absences medical documentation must be presented to the instructor and the student is obliged to arrange with the instructor how to make up for the classes missed. If absences are due to causes other than illness (eg. travel for research purposes), the student should notify the teacher at least a week before the planned absence and make arrangements concerning the required make-up work. Absences due to research travel require written support from MA supervisor. Instructors have the right to fail students who have missed more than two class meetings for reasons not related to health.

NOTE: The above rules concern electives, proseminars and seminars in both the BA and the MA program; they do not concern lecture courses.

Schedules of exams

We would like to remind our students that, despite the fact that at the ASC we have an annual system of checking students’ transcripts, you are obliged to get credits for the courses and lectures which took place during the winter semester till the end of the make up session at the latest. Moreover, it is your task to make sure that grades in your USOS file and in your student’s book (indeks) are identical. When they are not you have to resolve the differences directly with the lecturers. According to the new university rules, grades entered into the USOS system serve as the basic documentation of your achievements. Besides, there is no possibility to enter the grades into the USOS system retroactively, so please make sure that all of them are in place by the end of the make up session.

MA Examinations

Theses submission

Below you will find the deadlines for the submission of MA and BA theses as well as the planned dates of BA and MA exams at the ASC UW in the academic year 2019/2020:

  • The deadline to submit a thesis: by March 4, 2020
    The exam dates: March 27, 2020
  • The deadline to submit a thesis: by June 18, 2020
    The exam dates:  July 8-24, 2020
  • The deadline to submit a thesis: by September 3, 2020
    The exam dates: September 22-24, 2020
  • The deadline to submit a thesis: by December 3, 2020
    The exam dates: December 18, 2020

Both the ASC Director and the ASC Students’ Office will strictly adhere to the above deadlines and will not make any exceptions. Failure to submit a thesis by June 18, 2020 will irreversibly result in postponing of a BA or MA exam until the end of September 2020.

You are being informed about the planned exam dates and submission deadlines well ahead of time so you may consider them making plans for holidays and further education.

Request to appoint an examination committee

a. Student’s full name
b. Album number
c. Field of studies
d. Title of the BA or MA thesis
e. Suggestion of at least one reviewer (preferably two)
f. Suggestion of the exam date (in our case we have a period dedicated to the exams, so this is not necessary)
g. Three questions for the exam, chosen by the student from the list and approved by the supervisor.

Open Academic Sessions (OZN)

Each ASC student receives an OZN card. The purpose of this requirement is to enhance ASC students’ intellectual development through participation in a variety of extracurricular academic activities: public lectures, debates, seminars, or cultural events such as film festivals. While the OZN calendar is kept full by the coordinator, many OZN events are suggested by faculty and students. We strongly encourage student initiative – the whole point is for you to attend events that interest you. The OZN requirement 30 points for MA studies. In most cases, 1 OZN is awarded for 45 minutes of an academic activity. Each ASC student receives an OZN card where events should be listed. Each event should be signed by the organizer or a member of ASC faculty present.

NOTE: OZN points are not attached to any single semester–you should collect them and receive credit throughout your studies.

Read more about the OZN program opportunities and grading below.

Open Academic Sessions

The Transatlantic Symposium

The Transatlantic Symposium is a program of academic exchange inaugurated by Prof. Reinhard Isensee at Humboldt University Berlin in cooperation with international partners in 2003. The University of Warsaw American Studies Center joined the program in 2012 and has been a regular partner ever since.

Each Symposium encompasses a graduate student conference, addressed primarily to M.A. students, and a study tour. Its locations alternate between the United States (in even years) and Europe (in odd years). The ASC makes every effort to reduce the cost of participation to the students.

Read more about the Symposium below.

The Transatlantic Symposium

Fees

Registration

Schedule

MA II schedule – Fall 2020/2021

MA I schedule – Fall 2019/2020

MA I schedule – Spring 2019/2020

Contact

dr Małgorzata Gajda-Łaszewska

ASC Counselor for Students’ Affairs

mgajda@uw.edu.pl

+48 22 55 333 19

Room 303