Berry to lead task force on African studies

Daniel Weiss, Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, recently appointed Department of History Professor Sara Berry to head a task force of faculty members and students from the student group JHUnity to improve African and African-American academic programs at Hopkins. The group met for the first time last week to begin to outline the structure for the Center for African and African-American Studies.

The task force currently consists of Assistant Anthropology Professor Donald Carter, Associate History Professor and Associate Director of CAC Jane Daley, English Department Chair Francis Ferguson, Associate Political Science Professor Siba Grovogui, Assistant History Professor Pier Larson, Associate Sociology Professor Katrina McDonald, and History Professor Philip Morgan. Five students also serve on the task force- freshmen Omowunmi Aibana, Morgan MacDonald, Makeda Robinson and Jason Schneiderman, as well as graduate student Christopher Powers.

Members of JHUnity met with Weiss in March to discuss future plans for African and African-American studies at Hopkins. After the meeting, Weiss said he began the process of convening a task force to create an outline for the African and African-American studies. "I found that there was a lot of interest. The task force is the first step," said Weiss.

At the meeting last week, the group divided into subcommittees to address different parts of the agenda. Freshman Omowunmi Aibana said that the immediate goal of the task force "is to come up with an intellectual statement to let people know what we are doing."

Other goals of the task force include creating a curriculum to present to the University's Curriculum Committee in the fall and finding faculty to teach courses for the Center. The task force wants to eventually create a center that has its own undergraduate major and minor, funding and faculty with joint appointments in other departments.

"All faculty have appointments in various departments. The question is whether or not we need additional faculty," said Berry.

The task force is planning events to raise interest and support for the Center. Robinson said, "We have already contacted faculty and spoke to those who have expertise in these areas. We will have a conference in the spring to look for new hires."

JHUnity originally created a proposal for an African and African-American Studies Department, which was approved by Student Council in February. Robinson said that the title for African and African-American Studies was debated and compromised on. The task force is planning to create a center, rather than a broader department or a narrower program. Berry said, "The department issue still needs a lot of thought and discussion."

Currently, the Program for Comparative American Cultures (CAC) is an interdisciplinary study of the development of the Americas, including African, Asian, Latin American, and Jewish Diasporas. Members of JHUnity feel that the program does not provide sufficient studies, namely African and African-American Studies, to students.

Berry said, "CAC is well-established and will continue but we will be working closely with it."

Weiss said that CAC is currently under re-evaluation. He continued to say that different centers might eventually take over the resources of the CAC program in the future but notes that "this remains to be seen."

Members of the task force believe that they will begin to achieve many of their goals by next year. "The task force will report back to me in the fall with the outline so that the Center can be in place for the spring term," said Weiss.

The students on the task force are optimistic that progress will be made. "Right now, everyone has a very positive outlook for the Center," said Robinson.

The task force will be meeting again next week. "We welcome ideas, input, and participation from the Hopkins community in the future,." said Berry.