Linda Maxson, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, says the college will begin this fall the process of revitalizing African American studies and increasing the program’s role on campus.
Maxson says a faculty advisory committee has been working since last summer to explore “how to achieve a visible, vital presence in African American studies in order to meet the needs of the University’s students and faculty and to promote academic vitality and diversity on our campus.”
The committee was formed after the former Department of African American World Studies became a program, following the resignation of several faculty members. In the last year, the committee has collected information about African American studies programs at a range of institutions and has met with various constituency groups, including students and faculty in the program, faculty whose courses are cross-listed in the program, administrators, student groups, and the chair of the University’s African American Council.
Maxson says she will work with the college’s executive committee to begin implementing the advisory committee’s recommendation that African American studies grow and attain department status.
“These recommendations are thoughtful, positive, forward-looking, and creative, and I look forward to working with our faculty as well as with [Executive Vice President and] Provost [Michael] Hogan to strengthen and reaffirm our commitment to African American studies on campus,” she says.
The first step will be to invite faculty with relevant teaching and research interests to consider affiliating with African American studies while retaining primary appointments in their current departments. Those invitations will be sent in the fall, Maxson says. The process of establishing a new department of African American studies is expected to take at least three years and to involve a number of searches for faculty who could be jointly appointed in African American studies and existing departments.
The committee also recommended establishing a post-doctoral program and an annual visiting professorship to enhance intellectual vitality and draw top scholars in the field to The University of Iowa.
Finally, the committee recommended the creation of a new center for the in-depth study of a topic in African American studies. The committee noted that the selection of a topic would fall to interested faculty in the department, but suggested that a Center for Midwestern African American Life and Culture would capitalize on the University’s location at the crossroads between major urban centers of the Midwest, including Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Minneapolis.
Provost Hogan applauded the committee for outlining a comprehensive plan and says the University would not falter in its commitment to diversity.
“We are educating a student population that is going to live and work and find its success in a much more diverse and global community,” Hogan says. “If we’re going to succeed in that endeavor, we need a more diverse campus culture.”
The full committee report is online at www.clas.uiowa.edu/deomailing/2005/05/25/aas.shtml.
by Mary Geraghty Kenyon |
