Ph.D. Program in Heritage Studies
will use Delta region as ‘laboratory’

Prospective students are now being sought for the new Ph.D. program in heritage studies at Arkansas State University.

ASU’s third doctoral program will begin this fall on the Jonesboro campus, following approval by the state Higher Education Coordinating Board last week.

Dr. Brady Banta, who will serve as interim program director during the first year, said the program’s mission will be to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to become heritage professionals.

"Heritage professionals support the identification, assessment, preservation, interpretation, management and promotion of historic and cultural resources for ‘non-specialist’ or ‘public’ audiences," he explained.

Arkansas State University is particularly well suited for a program like this because of its location.  "The heritage studies doctoral program will utilize the heritage, attributes, resources and interests of the Mississippi River Delta region as its laboratory," he explained. While performing various types of case studies of the region, the doctoral students will "gain an understanding of cultural preservation and interpretation that will be applicable to other settings throughout the country."

Banta said the program course of study will use a interdisciplinary approach, which can provide multiple perspectives to explore how history, culture and geography relate in a distinctive region.

Those earning the degree will earn 90-93 semester hours, including 12-15 hours of core course, 36 hours in specialty areas, a six-hour practicum experience, and the dissertation. The specialty areas are history, ethnography and archeology, regional and ethnic literature, and social sciences.

Prospective doctoral students who have earned a master’s degree may be able to apply some of their previous course work toward meeting the academic requirements of the new program. The core courses include concepts of culture, regional culture, cultural resource management, and cultural resource methods.

Employment prospects for graduates of the program look good for years to come. The Travel Industry of America has cited heritage and cultural tourism as the fastest growing category, with educational tourism growing at an annual rate of 10-15 percent.

Graduates will be able to apply their knowledge of heritage and cultural studies in a variety of tourism settings, along with museums, historical preservation, archival development and folk celebrations.

The chair of the consulting team which reviewed ASU’s doctoral proposal, Dr. Andrew Gulliford, director of the Center of Southwest Studies, was very positive about the outlook and significance of ASU’s program.

"Heritage studies will grow in strength across the nation as we seek to combine research, scholarship, tourism and the inherent value of special places, landscapes and ecosystems," he wrote in his report. "The Arkansas State University doctoral program in Heritage Studies may indeed be in the front ranks of applied public history and university service to regional communities."

Banta, who came to ASU in 1997 as archivist in the Dean B. Ellis Library, is serving this year as interim dean of the library and information resources. He also is serving as co-administrator of the Delta Studies Center’s oral history project, "The Arkansas Delta, Agriculture and Community in Transition, 1920-1980."

After completing a bachelor’s degree at Missouri Valley College, he earned master’s degrees and a Ph.D. in history from Louisiana State University. Previously he was archivist at the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport.

He has published several articles and delivered numerous papers on the political and economic history of Louisiana and archival practice. He and his wife Melinda reside in Jonesboro.

Those seeking more details about the Ph.D. program in Heritage Studies at ASU may contact Banta at the Dean B. Ellis Library, (870) 972-3077, or e-mail him at bbanta@mail.astate.edu.

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