The IAAS was founded in 1970 to promote American Studies in Ireland. The founding members included Alan Graham (Queen’s University Belfast), Denis Donoghue (University College Dublin; now New York University), Peggy O’Brien (Trinity College Dublin; now Professor Emerita at UMass Amherst), and Tony Emmerson (Ulster University).
Over the decades the IAAS has supported successive generations of students and scholars in the universities and colleges across the island and beyond, from their undergraduate years studying American subjects, through their postgraduate, postdoctoral, and further academic careers in American Studies.
We are a constituent member of the European Association for American Studies (EAAS) and our current EAAS board representative is Dr Philip McGowan (QUB). All of our members are automatically members of the EAAS, and are encouraged to attend the biennial EAAS Conference.
The IAAS continues to collaborate with other associations and organisations dedicated to the advancement of American Studies outside the United States, particularly the British Association for American Studies (BAAS), Fulbright Ireland, and the American Embassy, Ireland.
A copy of our Constitution can be found here.