Asian/Pacific/ American Studies Program (APA)

The Five College Asian/Pacific/American Studies Program gives its admiration and respect for late Professor Franklin Odo. Please follow this link for a remembrance on the Amherst College website. 

Program Goals

Certificate Requirements

The requirements include a minimum of seven courses, distributed among the following categories. To earn an A/P/A certificate, you take one foundation course, choose five electives, and complete an independent project. You can apply courses you are already taking for your degree to the A/P/A certificate—something you wouldn’t be able to do with a degree minor. In this way, you can make earning a certificate an extension of your existing course of study or an exploration of something completely different.

One Foundation Course

During your first or second year, you will take one foundation course that offers a critical perspective on historical and contemporary experiences of Asian/Pacific/Americans. Examples of foundation courses at each of the five campuses include:

• SOCIOL 240: The Asian American Experience (UMass)
• Asian American History (UMass)
• Reading Asian America (Amherst)
• Intro to Asian American Literature (ENGL 210, Amherst; ENGL 274, Mount Holyoke; ENGLISH 204, UMass) 
• ENG 278: Asian American Women Writers (Smith)
• US Imperialism and Hawai’i (Hampshire)

Five Elective Courses

You then take five elective courses, including at least one from each of the following categories:

• Expressions. Courses devoted to the study of A/P/A expression in its many forms.
• U.S. Intersections. Courses dedicated to the study of intersections between A/P/A and non-A/P/A experiences within the United States.
• Global Intersections. Courses that offer perspectives on Asian/Pacific/Americans from outside the United States.

Special Project

Usually in your third or fourth year, you complete a special project based on intensive study of an A/P/A community through research, service learning or creative work such as an internship, action-research or a fine arts project. This is often done by students enrolled in an upper-level or independent study course.

Projects should include both self-reflective and analytic components. Students fulfilling this requirement will meet as a group at least once during the semester to discuss their ongoing projects, and at the end of the semester to present their completed projects at a student symposium or other public presentation. Students' plans for completing the requirement should be approved by a campus program advisor in the previous semester.

Other Notes and Stipulations

• Students must receive the equivalent of a "B" grade or better in all courses counted toward the certificate. (In the case of Hampshire students taking courses at Hampshire, "B" equivalence will be determined by the Hampshire program advisor based on written evaluations supplied by course instructors.)
• Courses counted toward satisfaction of campus-based major requirements may also be counted toward the Five College Certificate.
• No course can be counted as satisfying more than one certificate distribution requirement.
• Courses taken abroad may be used to fulfill the distribution requirement with the approval of the campus program advisor.

Students are encouraged to attain some proficiency in at least one language other than English, especially if such proficiency facilitates the completion of the Special Project component of the certificate program. While English is sufficient and appropriate for the completion of many projects involving Asian/Pacific/American communities, many sources and communities can be consulted only through other languages.

Note that if you don't see classes from all campuses currently listed, they will appear as the campuses release their course schedules for the semester. The five campuses release their schedules on different dates. Visit this page for specific dates.

Program Co-Chairs:

Jinwon Kim, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Smith College 

C.N. Le, Senior Lecturer II and Director of Asian & Asian American Studies Certificate, UMass Amherst

Five College Staff Liaison:

April Shandor, Academic Programs Coordinator

Connect:

Join the APA email list to find out about events and activities!