The Department of Ethnic Studies is central to the university's commitment ''to educational excellence for a diverse society.'' It offers a major, minors, and courses that are interdisciplinary in nature and provide a holistic approach to the study of the United States' multiracial, multicultural, and multigender immigrant society. The department's faculty provide areas of study that integrate social science and literary theory, as well as anthropological and sociological concepts within a historical and humanistic perspective. The underlying goal of Ethnic Studies is to provide a better understanding of diversity in American culture and thought.