Hudson

I write with good news concerning African and African-American Studies (AAAS) and the Frederick Douglass Institute.

This fall, we will begin implementing the recommendations of a College committee of faculty and students that has been studying how best to build and support an AAAS academic program. The committee determined that the College has many faculty whose research and teaching are highly relevant to AAAS, and that there is considerable faculty support for an interdisciplinary major in that field. Further, the committee found that students generally feel the presence of AAAS programs is desirable for the College and for their own educational experience.

The committee recommended that the focus of the College's AAAS program be further broadened to span the humanities and social sciences. It also recommended that the College establish a multidisciplinary, interdepartmental major in AAAS that brings together historical, cultural, psychological, economic, and political approaches and perspectives.

Finally, the committee recommended that the Frederick Douglass Institute be retained and that an executive committee be appointed to operate the AAAS program and to manage the institute, an organization similar to that used by our Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies.

I strongly endorse these recommendations, and I am pleased to say that this fall will mark the reopening of the Frederick Douglass Institute, whose main offices will continue to reside on the Eastman Quadrangle in Morey Hall. We now have a director and an executive committee in place. Larry Hudson, Jr., associate professor of history, is the institute's director. Committee members are Fredrick Harris, assistant professor of political science; Cilas Kemedjio, assistant professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages & Cultures; Elias Mandala, associate professor of history; and John Michael, associate professor of English. The executive committee's immediate task is to reinstate programming and curricular support for AAAS within the institute.

I am pleased that the institute will continue in a revitalized form, and I know that the faculty and students in the College will join me in working with the institute to build a program in African and African-American studies that will benefit our students and our University community.

Maintained by University Public Relations
Please send your comments and suggestions to:
Public Relations.