Welcome to Asian American Studies
The Asian American Studies Department is dedicated to academic and community-based goals, including promoting student learning and intellectual growth, stimulating professional growth and development among its faculty and staff, enhancing and empowering Asian/Pacific Islander communities locally and globally, and highlighting relevant social, economic, political, legal, and cultural issues within existing and emerging communities.
Founded in 1990, AAS is a vibrant multidisciplinary department that offers a major/double major and minor in Asian American Studies. Many AAS graduates work in a number of diverse fields, including education, entertainment, journalism, social work, community service, business and law.
Department Highlights
Distinguished Speaker and Student Awards Event
On April 30, 2009 at 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon, AAS hosted its Distinguished Speaker and Student Awards Event.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Kenyon Chan, the first AAS Department Chair and current Chancellor of UW, Bothell. The event celebrated the 50th anniversary of CSUN and the 19th anniversary of CSUN’s Asian American Studies department. Dr. Kenyon spoke on the history of Asian American Studies, from its national inception in the Civil Rights Movement to its institutional realization as a profession, to its local creation in Northridge—in the form of the Asian American Studies Department.
Asian American Studies Major and Minor
AAS Major
Asian American Studies offers a 42 unit standard major as well as the possibility of a double major. Please click the link above to access the Major Requirements for the Standard Major (Option A) and the Double Major (Option B).
AAS Minor
The minor in Asian American Studies is a 24 unit minor. Please click the link above to access the requirements for the minor.
AAS Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will develop a core competency in the history, culture and experience of Asian Pacific American communities in the United States.
- Working from a social justice approach to race, class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality, students will develop and apply their critical thinking skills as demonstrated through written assignments, oral presentations, class discussion and examinations.
- Students will acquire and develop effective communication and collaborative problem-solving skills, becoming leaders and learning the importance of collective action.
- Students will develop and demonstrate basic research skills as they learn about the particular dynamics of working with Asian Pacific American communities.
- Students will demonstrate an applied knowledge and practical application of their acquired skills through student and community work, in the process, learning the value and importance of community service.
AAS Selected Timeline
Click here to view a selected timeline of the AAS Department at CSUN