Centre for the Study of the United States

Welcome to the Centre for the Study of the United States

The Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) represents the largest collective of U.S.-focused scholars in Canada. We have upwards of sixty faculty affiliates who bridge the social sciences and humanities in three major areas of activity: undergraduate teaching, research, and programming for the University community and beyond.

Based in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, CSUS was established in 1999 to build and promote the University of Toronto's resources in American Studies and U.S.-focused research and teaching. Our goal is to build on our position as the premier site for interdisciplinary research, teaching, and public programming regarding the United States, the Americas more broadly, and the impact of the United States globally.

We scholars in the social sciences and humanities collaborate closely with experts in law, education, and public policy. This emphasis on the interface between the social sciences and humanities sets us apart from some of our peers in the U.S., where American Studies programs and centres are often primarily humanities-focused. In addition to bridging the social sciences and humanities, we balance a focus on the U.S. as an object of study with transnational, comparative, and international approaches.

“Toronto is an ideal -- and in some ways privileged -- vantage point from which to study the United States. CSUS makes the most of this distinctive position.”

- Rick Halpern, Director, CSUS

Learn more about Rick Halpern

Upcoming events

30 Jan

CSUS Graduate Student Workshop

Mourning and Utopia in Herman Melville’s The Confidence-Man

In-person

January 30, 2025 | 4:00PM - 5:30PM

27 Feb

CSUS Graduate Student Workshop

Harm, Inevitable: America’s War on Drugs as Spiral in Zoë Lund’s Bad Lieutenant

In-person

February 27, 2025 | 4:00PM - 5:30PM

American Studies undergraduate program

CSUS is the home to the American Studies undergraduate program within the Faculty of Arts and Science. The program is right for you if you are excited to learn from and with students and faculty from a variety of backgrounds in a truly interdisciplinary environment. Our small and topical core American Studies courses allow you to keep up with the evolving world and to understand, “what is America, to who, and how can we study it?”