Professor Kenneth Hamilton, Director
The ethnic studies program offers an interdisciplinary examination of African-American and Mexican-American experiences through the social sciences and humanities. Students receive instruction in important periods of African, Mexican and American history, probing the roots of traditions beginning in early African and pre-Columbian cultures, as well as examining minorities in contemporary U.S. society. This program provides good preparation for graduate work in the social sciences, the humanities and professional schools, as well as jobs and careers in many fields. Education, law, journalism, urban planning, business, social work and politics are a few of the fields for which ethnic studies provides a strong background.
The B.A. degree focuses on humanities and, consequently, requires less work in methodology and statistics than the B.S. degree. Courses to fulfill the requirements for this program should be selected in consultation with the program director. A total of 33 credit hours are required to complete the major in African and African-American studies.
SMU Degree Requirements
An SMU undergraduate degree requires a minimum of 120 credit hours and must include completion of the University’s Common Curriculum , one major and a combination of electives and/or other majors or minors. Completion of certain majors requires more than 120 hours to finish the degree. The credit hours within this curriculum are distributed as follows: