Cultural Studies in Education is an interdisciplinary field that brings perspectives from the humanities and social sciences to bear on the study of education. It recognizes that educational systems are situated in the contexts of culture, knowledge, and power. Cultural Studies seeks to investigate and analyze the dynamic relationship between school and society with interpretive, normative, critical, and comparative theory and methods.

Both the master’s and doctoral specializations in Cultural Studies are designed to meet the academic needs of individuals, and the faculty views the diversity of students in the program as one of its important strengths.

Students in the master’s program take core courses in Cultural Studies topics, prepare themselves in one method of inquiry, and, in collaboration with an advisor, develop a plan of study for an individualized concentration. At the end of their programs of study, students complete a master’s research project or thesis.

In the doctoral program, students develop programs of study that build upon coursework in Cultural Studies focusing on history and philosophy of education, diverstiy issues, gender studies, democratic education, and critical pedagogies. Elaborating an interdisciplinary perspective, the program enables students to construct programs of study that incorporate coursework from a variety of related disciplines such as Philosophy, Communications, Sociology, African Studies, and African-American Studies. Having also focused attention on several methods of systematic inquiry, doctoral students propose, conduct, and present culminating dissertation studies based on original research or creative scholarship.