The African and African-American studies program has taken another step to further establish itself with the University.
Wednesday afternoon, faculty and students gathered at the Old President’s House, on the corner of Highland Road and Raphael Semmes Road, for an open house displaying the new official office space of the AAAS program.
AAAS Director Angeletta Gourdine, who has been heading the program out of her office in the English Department, said this new space helps firmly establish the program within the University and helps demonstrate the program’s growth.
“Now we have our own offices where faculty members can come. Students can come; we can have our own meetings and our own office space,” Gourdine said.
At the reception, AAAS honored instructors Herman Kelly and Carlos Thomas, who have devoted their time and efforts to the program but are being dismissed as a result of the Flagship Agenda. They are to be replaced with professorial faculty.
Gourdine said that while it is difficult to see the two instructors go, next fall the program will celebrate the introduction of three new distinguished faculty members.
Starting in August, the AAAS program will have its first half-line, or joint, appointments, which are faculty members who teach in different departments appointed by AAAS. The faculty members are Gibril Cole, West African History professor; Eldon Birthwright, African and African-American and Caribbean literature professor; and Jas Sullivan, race and politics professor.
Gourdine called these joint appointments a “landmark” for the program.
“This is a time to celebrate that we’re growing,” she said.
Gourdine said she is hopeful the program will speedily develop into a department, which would allow students to receive a major in AAAS.
“We’re headed that way,” she said.
The AAAS was established in 1994 as a result of a proposal for it to become a minor by then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Karl Roider. It has since passed through the hands of directors Thomas Durant, sociology professor, and Leonard Moore, history associate professor.
 
Contact Rebekah Allen at [email protected]