Program Overview
Established in the late 1960s in response to student demands, AAS at the University of Houston has continued to move forward with innovative course offerings focusing on the history and culture of African Americans and the contributions that people of African descent have made to American and world civilizations.
Over the past twenty-five years, AAS has added new courses, received additional and continuous funding, stimulated increased student interest, and expanded its associated cultural activities and community presence. Part of the College of Humanities, Fine Arts, and Communication, the AAS Program offers a minor in African American Studies. Through AAS' efforts to recruit and retain African American students pursuing higher education, enrollment in the program courses has increased to more than 1,600 students. Our objective is to continue our high visibility in local and regional communities, to help support additional faculty and students, and to emphasize research through the Institute for African American Policy Research and the Center for the Study of African American Culture.
Mission Statement:
The mission of AAS is reflected in the larger vision of the University's commitment to increasing both the appreciation of the contributions of diverse cultures and the regard for individual differences. The program develops, promotes, and enhances the educational opportunities congruent with such a society through teaching, research, and community service projects or creative partnerships. AAS focuses upon the cultural and historical heritage of African Americans and their contributions to American and world civilizations.
The Mission Statement, like the University's, includes both opportunities for all students in c~ diverse university community to achieve educational goals and to increase faculty research/scholarship endeavors.
Goals and objectives (prioritized):
1. Promote scholarship, research, curriculum development, and teaching throughout the University which address issues germane to the topics of African and African Americans to our society.
Objective 1.1: Continue to recruit distinguished faculty, from the University's academic departments, that have the expertise to research, develop, and teach a courses) about African and African Americans in the global community.
Objective 1.2: Continue to solicit research grants that will enhance the reputation and scholarship of the African American Studies Program including the Institute for African American Policy Research.
Objective 1.3: Continue to utilize AAS Graduate Assistant for Curriculum Development to provide support for AAS faculty research, literature searches, and course development.
2. Aim at creating a new generation of leaders who challenge stereotypes, prejudice, discrimination, and belief systems which hinder the intellectual emancipation and personal growth of all members of society.
Objective 2.1: Continue to facilitate an increase in the retention and graduation of African American students who minor in African American Studies and enroll in AAS courses. In 1991 92 AAS graduated ten minors, of which three are currently pursuing graduate studies. AAS enrollment for Fall 1991 was 586 students compared to Fall 1992 of 689 (15% increase).
Objective 2.2: Maintain and build on the efforts of the AAS Recruitment and Retention Specialist to organize discipline-based student groups (currently four), weekly book club, tutoring program, and African American student orientation programs.
Objective 2.3: Promote mutual understanding between the various ethnic and cultural groups of the University through continued sponsorships of lectures, forums, discussion groups, and presentations through art forums.
Objective 2.4: Continue to expand AAS' commitment to the Greater Houston African American community through the promotion of volunteerism in community-based organizations. At present AAS sponsors student, faculty, and staff volunteers to SHAPE Community Center, the Houston Area Urban League, the NAACP, the African American-Jewish Dialogue Group, the Center for the Healing of Racism, Third Ward Futures, Soul Patrol, Inc. and the Transco "STAR" program.
Objective 2.5: Develop students' understanding of the new global society through the establishment of international student exchange program. Currently negotiating a program with the University of Ghana.
3. Utilize intellectual resources and expertise through partnerships that address the most challenging urban issues and concerns such as education, health, poverty, and economic development.
Objective 3.1: Continue to increase the number of research grants that pair the Institute for African American Policy Research with local, state, and regional institutions in developing model programs to combat problems of urban areas.
Objective 3.2: Provide additional research assistance to AAS faculty analyzing and developing new models for public policy implementation.
Objective 3.3: Continue to expand the Community Mentoring Partnership with Third Ward Futures, Soul Patrol, Inc. and the Transco "STAR" programs in which 31 UH students currently serve as mentors and tutors to high school students.
Staff
The AAS Program is administered by:
Linda Reed, Director, Associate Professor of History, Ph.D., History, Indiana University
Kairn Klieman, Associate Director, Assistant Professor of History, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
Steven Pitts, Interim Director, Institute of African American Policy Research, Ph.D., Economics, University of Houston
Successes
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded AAS and supportive departments $532,000 through the NEH Challenge Grant Program. The award, when matched with nonfederal and nonstate funds for a total of $2.66 million, will create endowed professorships in African history and African American literature. UH received one of only eight such grants awarded nationally in 1992.
In 1996, Professor Richard Blackett became the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History and African American Studies in fulfilling the NEH Challenge Grant as related to the History Department.
