Texas State University Will Offer a Class on Harry Styles

Texas State University will become the world's first university to offer a course exclusively on the work and influence of pop star Harry Styles.

History professor Dr. Louie Dean Valencia, who holds a PhD in Early and Late Modern European History and studies countercultures and how they affect society at large, will be teaching the class, titled "Harry Styles and the Cult of Celebrity: Identity, the Internet, and European Pop Culture." Valencia announced the news on his Twitter feed, writing, "This is what tenure looks like. Let's gooooo!"

Valencia's tweet soon went viral, and he wrote in a follow up post, "If nothing else, the fact that this course has gotten so much global attention means maybe I know *something* about how celebrity culture works," he shared. "I want students to not just learn about contemporary history, but hard skills they can use! Like how to manage a social media campaign!"

Valencia is the author of two books, and is working on a third about "masculinity, online fandoms, and British musician Harry Styles."

"I would love for students to leave the class feeling a fraction of the self-love that many of Harry's fans have when they leave his concerts," Valencia told NPR. "And also thinking that maybe they now have the tools to do something in the world."

This is not the first college-level course to be offered on a pop star, though it is the first on Styles. Per NPR, "Several have created classes around Beyoncé, a University of South Carolina professor taught a sociology class about Lady Gaga and New York University's Clive Davis Institute recently introduced a class about Taylor Swift."

The class will be open to undergraduate students in Texas State University's honors college, but students do not have to be history majors.

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