It’s an exciting time in African American Studies (AASD) at theUniversity of Maryland.  During the past year, the department was reviewed by a committee of scholars from on the campus (Professors Bonnie Thornton Dill, William W. Falk, Odis Johnson and James Gates) and from other universities (Professors Valerie Smith from Princeton and Alvin Thornton from the University of Michigan).  The committee recommended an enhancement of AASD’s focus on Health, Race and Social Policy as well as Urban and Community Studies.   The University’s provost and president have both approved this plan, which will also involve moving the department to new, larger, much better offices; more programmatic ties to other units on campus, especially the School of Public Health; adding new faculty lines; and, immediately, undertaking a national search for a new department chair.

AASD continues to offer our undergraduate students the option of emphasizing either a cultural-social-concentration or one in public policy.  We also offer graduate level courses, in collaboration with the Department of Educational Policy and Leadership.  Additionally, all University of Maryland students have the opportunity to earn a certificate in African American Studies.  All of these opportunities are facilitated by faculty whose current research includes topics such as:  women and labor; the sex work industry; mental health issues; educational policy; victimization and incarceration; family dynamics in South Africa; historically black counties and southern migration; and other historical and contemporary issues.

AASD works closely with colleges, departments, programs and faculty on our campus such as the Driskell Center, Women's Studies, the Consortium on Race, Gender and Ethnicity, and the Maryland Population Research Center.  We also have close ties to nearby off-campus resources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Library of Congress, and the Museum of American History, National Institute of Health among others – all accessible by the Metro.  Core faculty as well as faculty affiliates and resources, such as those just cited, provide our students with a rich environment within which they can pursue their interests.  Located in the wealthiest majority black county in the U.S., inside the Beltway with easy access to the nation’s capitol, in an environment diverse in all ways possible, there is no better place than the University of Maryland’s African American Studies Department if you want to study things related to the black experience in America, Africa and the Caribbean!

Dr. William Falk (interim chair)