LSU celebrated the establishment of the new Department of African and African American Studies on Sunday during a launch party.
Initially just an LSU program, the AAAS was founded in 1994 and was voted to become a department on Feb. 24, 2021 by the LSU Board of Regents. A previous director of the program and currently the new inaugural chair of the department, Stephen C. Finley, said there is lots of work to do and money to raise, and that the future of the department will be what they make it.
“What we put into AAAS, the new department, what the college and university invest in it, and the work we give to it will be what the department will be and will determine its greatness,” Finley said.
The significance of LSU having AAAS as a department instead of a program means the potential for new resources and new vision, Finley said. He believes a department can do more than a program through expanding faculty, endless possibility and meeting the needs of students and the university.
“My goal is to be a part of building a department that has a high profile in the university and the college and the region and in the nation and we have great scholars who can participate in making that a reality,” Finley said.
The celebration’s guests were entertained with a live jazz band, food and multiple performances from the LSU Gospel Choir.
Matt Lee, interim executive vice president and provost, made an appearance, emphasizing that LSU is “finally” witnessing the establishment of AAAS as an actual department.
“Although we are a hub of innovation and experimentation and transformational thought, we are for whatever reason also extraordinarily resistant to change in terms of the structures and processes by which we carry out our mission,” Lee said.
Currently, 5,485 African American students are enrolled in LSU, which is greater than any another point in the school’s history, Lee said. The four-year graduation rate of African American students has increased by 8% in the last three years and is predicted to continue increasing within the next few years.
“This department makes us a more well-rounded university. It makes us more inviting, more welcoming and frankly, it makes us a more human institution,” Lee said.
Troy Blanchard, dean of the college of humanities and social sciences, was also a guest speaker, and he was proud to announce the launch of the department, also giving recognition to past program directors and staff that contributed to the establishment of AAAS.
“Our newly founded department of African and African American studies promises to bring together intellectual traditions that will make extraordinary an contribution to the LSU campus through both stellar research transformative teaching,” Blanchard said.
The celebration featured keynote speaker Victor Anderson, a professor at Vanderbilt University, and he presented an inaugural address called “Mimetic Fire and the Making of Black Studies,” after which he answered questions from the audience.
At the end of the night, awards were given out to special figures who helped evolve the program to what it is today.