[history]

The American Studies Diploma Program was begun during the early '60s, one of the hottest times in the Cold War period. Neither a space race nor a missile crisis, its initial mission was, and continues to be, to serve as a counterweight (and perhaps, in some small way, an antidote) to such periods of international misunderstanding and violence. The first director of its executive committee was the American studies pioneer Daniel Aaron; it was briefly directed by Stanley Elkins, and then jointly by the historian Allen Weinstein and the sociologist Peter Rose. In the mid–seventies, the present form of the program took shape, with Rose having become the program director. He would continue as its principal booster and guiding light for over thirty years, until his retirement in the Spring of 2003. The program is presently directed by Jim Hicks, a lecturer in comparative literature.

Over the years, American Studies Diploma students have come to Northampton from more than forty countries. Graduates have most often returned home and done one or more of the following: continued their studies and research, started teaching, begun careers in journalism, or found work either in international commerce or with non–governmental agencies, either at home or abroad. Universities in many countries—China, Germany, India, Italy, The Netherlands, Taiwan, and the U.K. and U.S—count our AMS Diploma alumni among their ranks: one of our graduates has even become a tenured Professor at Smith College, right here in Northampton! Also among our former students are two university presidents, a Fulbright Program Director, several distinguished print journalists, radio and television anchors, as well as editors, publishers, civil servants and diplomats. At the Program's fortieth reunion, which was held in Northampton in the Spring of 2002, nearly seventy former students were in attendance. It was simply breathtaking to listen to the stories of their time in "Noho" and the way that year had helped shape the path their lives had taken. There's really no telling where a year at Smith may lead!