What are the specific competencies you cultivated as an American Studies student that you now use in your professional life and that set you apart from your colleagues?
American Studies helped me develop many skills that allowed me to craft the path I wanted for myself. First, it taught me how to write. Second, it taught me how to find connections across genres and disciplines. With these two skill sets I have been able to do pretty much whatever I've wanted.
This second skill set, in particular, has set me apart from my peers and helped me find job opportunities that others have missed. When pursuing my graduate degree in TESOL, I built a curriculum for international students that brought English learning and business communications together, something that had never been done before within an undergraduate program. This led to a job as an adjunct professor in the Marriott School of Business. I did the same thing again a year later but this time with English learning and public speaking, which led to another teaching position within the Student Development Department.
Later, I wrote an Latter-day Saint self-help book in which I brought history, psychology, science, and Latter-day Saint doctrine together to craft a compelling narrative of how we can live extraordinary lives as ordinary people.
In each of these situations, I used the skill to see connections between disparate fields of study and seemingly incongruent ideas. Because American Studies is cross-disciplinary, this is the mindset and cognitive ability that you will develop—the ability to see how things relate to and impact each other rather than merely how separate subjects fit into man-made containers.
For the last two years, I have been traveling through South America with my five children. An understanding of how political science, history, geography, and economics all impact a specific culture has brought so much more joy and depth to my travels—a joy that I am able to articulately share with my children. I am currently in the midst of other entrepreneurial pursuits, all of which are made possible by these two skill sets—the ability to write and the ability to find connections across genres.
What do you wish you had known as an American Studies student? What advice would you share with current students?
I studied American Studies because it interested me. I didn't want to specialize in one thing but wanted to understand how everything worked. I now realize that it was this interest in connections and relationships that drew me to the major. And it has been that same interest that has led me to my professional pursuits. If this is a major that interests you, you will be able to find ways to make a career with American Studies as your starting point.
*You can contact Susie with questions about her American Studies story at suswha@gmail.com.