Africana-Studies Mentorship Program

Looking for a Mentor?

The Africana Studies Program is hosting two speakers this semester as a part of its Mentorship Program. According to Professor Carol Allen (English Department), Co-Chair of the Program, the purpose of the Mentorship Program is
"to connect professionals with students who might be interested in a specific career path. The Program is open to all students and will include the added benefit of the perspective of people from the African Diaspora who may have weathered particular circumstances which our students may encounter or are encountering. We also hope to highlight careers that have been underrepresented by minorities or those that our students may not have considered."


Interested in Starting Your Own Business? Want to Market Products or Services to Black Communities?

Rubye Hickerson, Co-Owner of the B.U.S. Shop (Black Universities Supply Shop), will speak about Black Business Ownership.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Health Sciences Building, Room 119

Interested in Teaching on the College Level? Want to Capitalize on Your Love of Writing?

Michael J.K. Bokor, Assistant Professor of English (Long Island University), will speak about his Road to the Academy.

Thursday, November 18, 2010
6:00-7:00 p.m.
Health Sciences Building, Room 119

The following general information about the Africana Studies Program is provided by Professor Allen:
Africana Studies is an interdisciplinary program that draws from the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. It focuses on the contributions, world views, and concerns facing the African Diaspora from past to present and provides a complementary take on many of the discourses established by traditional disciplines while it also defines and attempts to answer through rigorous research alternative intellectual queries and problematics from the perspective of various and varying groups of people of African descent. The twelve-credit minor granting program, which began offering classes in Spring 2008, has already organized and launched several outreach programs with the assistance of university and community resources: A Mentorship Program, The African Forum Series, youth performances, a conference on Jazz and other African-based musical forms (Music of the Spirit), multicultural, multinational musical performances, films and discussion panels, fundraisers, and dance workshops. Two core courses, “Introduction to Africana Studies” and “African Civilizations,” have been scheduled regularly since the 2008-2009 calendar year. In addition, we have received several requests to cross-list or provide elective courses under the Africana Studies banner. Such titles include: “African American History,” “Slavery and the Literary Imagination,” “African Film,” “Blacks and the Law,” “Caribbean Literature,” and “African-based Art.” We hope to extend our outreach to the university and Brooklyn community and focus on faculty development and grant writing over the next few years. Faculty members are excited about the program, and we have graduated one minor and have several moving through the course. Support from the English, Music, History, Anthropology, Speech and Performance Studies, and Media Arts Departments along with the Gender Studies and Asia Studies Programs has been warm and forthcoming, and we plan to continue cultivating a spirit of collegiality and mutual cooperation both with the university and with the wider community.
Click the image to see a larger version of the general-purpose flyer describing the Africana Studies Program.


For more information about the African Studies Program or its Mentorship Program events, contact Professor Carol Allen.

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