Comparative American Studies

Engaged Comparative American Studies

Engaged Comparative American Studies takes what you’re learning in your courses and puts it into practice through internships, research, study away, winter term, career exploration, and beyond.

Here’s a sampling of recent projects, field experiences, and post-graduate destinations for comparative American studies majors.

RISE at Oberlin
Research. Internships. Study Away. Experiential Learning.

Ways Comparative American Studies Majors Rise

Research

  • Art and Community Formation: A Case Study in West Oakland, Calif.
  • Exploring the Role of Educational Environments in the Adjustment of Asian Immigrants and Refugees to NE Ohio
  • Adaptation to Migration: The Great Migration and its Impact on Chicago Politics from 1900-1920
  • Aloha, Marriage Equality: Unsettling Gay Constructions of Paradise

Internships

  • Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, Los Angeles: supporting research on conditions in poor communities
  • Storefront Academy, N.Y.: coordinating events and conducting donor research
  • Lorain County WISE: Women in Sustainable Employment and Enterprise, Oberlin: researching and analyzing data to help improve success rates for low-income single mothers
  • The Obama White House, Washington, DC: helping coordinate oversight and implementation efforts related to the President’s Climate Action Plan
  • ASIA, Inc. (Asian Services in Action) in Cleveland and other locations: immigrant services, after-school programs
  • Summer research intern, New York State Association for Affordable Housing, N.Y.

Study Away

  • Border Studies Program in Mexico and Tucson, Ariz.
  • Social Change in Central America: Exploring Peace, Justice, and Community Engagement
  • Council on International Educational Exchange in Buenos Aires and other countries
  • Center for Global Education and Experience at Augsburg University
  • Nation Building, Globalization, and Decolonizing the Mind: South Africa/ Namibia

Experiential Learning

  • Exploring Cleveland as part of the Cleveland Immersion Program
  • Conducting oral histories with members of the Lorain Latinx community
  • Conducting legal research for pending asylum cases for the Ohio Immigrant Worker Project
  • Docenting and facilitating field trips for the Courage and Compassion exhibit on Japanese internment history

First Destinations of Recent Comparative American Studies Majors

  • Fellowships:
    • Fulbright in Brazil, Turkey, Slovakia, Poland
    • Watson Fellowship
  • Graduate Schools:
    • Master’s program in public policy analysis, NYU
    • MS in library and information science, Mass.
    • Master of Health Policy Management, Harvard School of Public Health
    • MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
    • MFA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    • Master of Global Policy, LBH School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
    • Master of Public Policy, University of Michigan
  • Positions:
    • Assistant dean of admissions, Hamilton College, N.Y.
    • Research assistant, University of Michigan
    • Experiential educators program, Israel
    • Quest interpreter at Bronx Zoo, N.Y.
    • Family and youth advocate for Casa de Esperanza, Minn.
    • Research assistant, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Oaxaca, Mexico
    • Patient care coordinator, Free Clinic Southwest Washington, Vancouver, Wash.