Lead Transformative Change
The transformative change the College hopes to lead is, in many ways, embodied by the creation and development of our new Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS), which was established on July 1, 2019. This year we welcomed Ruth Nicole Brown as inaugural Chair of the Department and Tamura Lomax as our first foundational professor. Together with other members of the AAAS transitional faculty, the Department has undertaken a complete revision of the PhD, MA, and undergraduate minor; they have also created an innovative new undergraduate major and had curriculum reforms approved through the College of Arts & Letters process and is currently moving its way through the relevant processes as the University. AAAS is also undertaking an aggressive hiring plan this semester, having received over 100 applications for the positions we have posted. We have also advanced conversations with Barb Kranz and Eric Boatman to identify new space for the new
CREATE! Micro-Grant Virtual Exhibit Launches Displaying Winning Projects
The CREATE! Micro-Grant Program supported the launch of 12 student projects that analyze and respond to racial injustice and the struggles brought on by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. These projects, ranging from interpretive dance and musical performances to traditional Anishinaabe quill work, videos, podcasts, personal essays, and poetry, can now be viewed online through the CREATE! Micro-Grant Virtual Exhibit.
“What you will see is artists and writers facing their struggles head on, in form and content,” said Divya Victor, Associate Professor of Creative Writing and Transnational Poetry, who organized the competition. “What you will see is young change-makers using their art, music, materials, and language to pull themselves out of the pit of darkness and find their way through the riot of feeling within them. A riot that is within many of us.”