Read More: Links to Irish Studies resources
Irish Studies programs at North American universities is a growing trend.
Today, there are dozens of programs across the U.S. and Canada, many of which provide an interdisciplinary approach to learning about a rich Celtic culture that's existed since the dawn of Western civilization.
IrishCentral has compiled a list of 10 exemplary Irish Studies programs in North America, complete with each program's philosophy and what they have to offer.
Here are our editor's picks:
NOTRE DAME UNIVERSITY - Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies
Location: Notre Dame, Indiana
Program: Undergraduate Minor, Graduate Degree
About:
The Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies is an interdisciplinary project devoted to teaching and research in Irish culture in all its internal and external relations. Established in 1993 under the intellectual leadership of Professor Seamus Deane, the Keough-Naughton Institute’s faculty now includes leaders in Literature, History, Film, Television and Theater and it is regularly supplemented by visiting professors, some of whom come to Notre Dame as Naughton Fellows in a reciprocal arrangement with Irish universities.
BOSTON COLLEGE - Center for Irish Programs
Location: Chestnut Hill, MA
Program: Undergraduate Minor, Graduate Degree
About:
The Center for Irish Programs at Boston College brings together all University Irish Initiatives. It has oversight responsibility for the Irish Studies program, the Irish Institute, the Burns Library Irish Collections, the Center for Irish Programs - Dublin, and the Irish Music Program. Boston College was founded, in part, to educate the sons of famine emigrants from Ireland who settled in Boston. The Center for Irish Programs continues this important aspect of the University's mission and heritage.
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY - Glucksman Ireland House
Location: New York, NY
Program: Undergraduate Minor, Graduate Degree
About:
Located in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village, Glucksman Ireland House is the center for Irish Studies at New York University, with courses in history, Irish language, literature, music and politics. NYU undergraduates may pursue a minor or a B.A./M.A. in Irish and Irish-American Studies. Graduate students may earn a Masters in Irish and Irish-American Studies
For the New York community, they present a weekly public events series during the academic year, as well as a monthly traditional Irish music series.
CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY - Center for Irish Studies
Location: Washington D.C.
Program: Master’s Degree
About:
Irish studies at Catholic University has been present for over a century: the university established the first professorship devoted to teaching the Irish language in 1896. They offer an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Irish Studies. The interdisciplinary nature of the program gives students the opportunity to take a range of courses from various university departments, as well as a semester-long Parliamentary Internship in Dublin.
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS HOUSTON - Center for Irish Studies
Location: Houston, TX
Program: Undergraduate Minor, Graduate Concentration
About:
On January 23, 2003, the Center for Irish Studies opened in the Link Lee Mansion. Today the Center for Irish Studies resides at 4110 Mt. Vernon on the UST campus. In its short history, the Center for Irish Studies has made its mark by offering a wide range of cultural events to the University community and the community at large as well as a broad array of academic courses in Irish Studies, both on campus and in Ireland.
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY - Center for Canadian Irish Studies
Location: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Program: Canadian Irish Studies Undergraduate Minor, Graduate Certificate
About:
The Center for Canadian Irish Studies was created in 2000 through the joint financial support of Concordia University and the Canadian Irish Studies Foundation. Its mandate is to promote a fuller understanding of Ireland and the Irish experience in Canada. The Center coordinates a Minor and a Certificate in Canadian Irish Studies, an annual public lecture series by scholars and distinguished figures in Irish cultural life, scholarships in Canadian Irish Studies and special outreach projects of interest both to academics and the Irish community in Canada.
QUEENS COLLEGE - Irish Studies
Location: Flushing, NY
Program: Undergraduate Minor, Possible Interdisciplinary Major
About:
The Undergraduate Irish Studies minor at Queens College is intended for all students interested in the study of the rich and varied cultures of Ireland. For students majoring in English, Comparative Literature, History or Political Science, the Minor in Irish Studies provides a way for students to do intensive study in Irish culture- including the Irish language, Anglo-Irish literature, archaeology, film studies, and history. Students interested in an interdisciplinary major in Irish Studies (through Interdisciplinary and Special Studies) can consult with the Director of Irish Studies.
MANHATTANVILLE COLLEGE - Irish Studies
Location: Purchase, N.Y.
Program: Undergraduate Minor
About:
The Irish Studies Undergraduate Program offers an interdisciplinary minor in the history and culture of Ireland and the Irish Diaspora, from the early Christian period to the present. Contemporary trends underscore the extraordinarily diverse character that Irish Studies has assumed in the last two decades. The aim of the program is to provide the student with a comprehensive appreciation of the Irish experience through a range of courses drawn from different disciplines and reflecting the richness and complexity of this field of study.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN MADISON - Celtic Studies Program
Location: Madison, Wisconsin
Program: Undergraduate Certificate
About:
The Celtic Studies Program is a regular unit of the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Celtic Studies is a multidisciplinary field encompassing the history and culture of those peoples who presently inhabit the northwestern perimeter of Europe, including Ireland (both north and south), Scotland, Wales, Brittany and the Isle of Man. The Program's mission is to facilitate the integrated examination of these various fields and topics. The Program offers an undergraduate Certificate in Celtic Studies.Undergraduates can also major in Celtic Studies under the provisions of the individual major program.
VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY - Irish Studies
Location: Villanova, Pennsylvania
Program: Undergraduate Concentration
About:
The Undergraduate Concentration in Irish Studies is available to students in all degree programs. Villanova Irish Studies explores the history and culture of the Irish people from different perspectives — literature, history, art, politics and folklore. Interested students may also study in Ireland either in a Semester Abroad program or with the Villanova in Ireland Summer program at NUI Galway.
*Originally published September 27, 2010.
8 Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.Kelt66 | May 13, 2013, 12:42 PM EDT
"clevelander," Boston University, with over 33,000 students, more than 4000 faculty, is the largest private University in the United States. BU is nonsectarian, but historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church. You are mistaking BU for the Jesuit school, Boston College.
Curitiba | Apr 19, 2012, 12:44 PM EDT
Bythebay, I am staying on topic. You are saying that we should stop banging on about the past. So if that's what we should do, why have any history departments in Irish universities at all. Sorry, but Ireland doesn't have an alternate history. There was no Industrial Revolution, there was no Irish Empire, there was no spreading of the Irish language around the world (apart from Scotland, and the Isle of Man), so what do you propose instead?
IrelandNorth | Apr 19, 2012, 06:06 AM EDT
Geez! I don't believe it. I actually agree with Bythebay for once? Being based in Ireland for 'post-grad.' work would allow travel across Ireland's four provinces:- Ulster/Northern Ireland - Munster/Southern Ireland - Leinster/Eastern Ireland - and Connacht/Western Ireland! And after studying here, they could "move on" (sic) to denying the past and cultivate a fashionable historical amnesia much beloved of contemporary Irish middle-class revisionists. Sometimes factual reflux is purposeful, though. Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But then, perhaps that's the agenda after all? Still, live and let live is what I say. I believe Oliver Cromwell wasn't such a bad guy after all. And good company to have a pint of the devil's buttermilk with at your local Tavern in the town. As long as he didn't have a hangover. And he did come from a dysfunctional family also, poor chap.
clevelander | Apr 18, 2012, 07:17 PM EDT
Just don't tell anyone at Boston U about your past, even if it is for Historical reference.
Curitiba | Apr 18, 2012, 06:13 PM EDT
I mean, why did England develop into such a world power? Is it important to know why? Do we need to know why everybody speaks English and not French or Spanish? Or is only X-factor and the latest i-phone relevant to our lives? How did the i-phone come about? Did it come out of a cardboard box, or is it necessary to know about Alan Turing's machine? Does anyone care as long as they can download their apps? If you don't take and interest in history, you'll probably believe anything you're told.
Curitiba | Apr 18, 2012, 05:59 PM EDT
Well, we could say we have heard ad nauseum about Henry VIII and William the Conquerer and the Great fire of London here in England, but if you lose touch with the past and people don't know anything about the development of the country, that is when you get people rewriting history. If you know nothing about the past, and it's not recorded, how are you going to contradict somebody when they come out with some wacky perspective? You're going to have to take their word for it, if you don't know anything about history (you in a general sense, not addressing you directly with that Bythebay). Those who fail to learn the lessons from history are doomed to repeat them. That is probably one reason why there is so much emigration from Ireland today, just like in the past!
Curitiba | Apr 18, 2012, 05:20 PM EDT
Ireland was one of the greatest, if not the greatest European centres of learning and scholarship in the 12th century. That was before before it suffered repeated invasions from England and all that was ruined, setting the scence for 8 centuries of turmoil. So you see, in order to understand Ireland today, you must look into its distant past and follow the thread until the modern day.
ciaradexy | Apr 18, 2012, 12:29 PM EDT
Bythebay, they want to learn about Irish 'culture' from the 12th century. They arent interested in us now.