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PRINCETON TO OPEN NEW AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES CENTER: Facility to focus on research of race in America.
*Building on a strong core of faculty with a history of distinguished contributions to African American studies, Princeton University is establishing a new center to serve as a model for teaching and research on race in America, the school reports on its Web site.
President Shirley M. Tilghman launched the Center for African American Studies in a statement announcing that historic Stanhope Hall on the University's front campus is being renovated to serve as its home.
"Of all the challenges that confront America, none is more profound than the struggle to achieve racial equality and understand the impact of race on the life and institutions of the United States," Tilghman said.
"As a University dedicated to 'the nation's service and the service of all nations,' Princeton must be in a position to contribute to this quest through research that yields valuable insights into the nature of racial identity and social justice, and through education that trains new generations of leaders to solve problems that have persisted too long, both in this country and abroad," she added.
Princeton will enhance its curriculum -- particularly at the undergraduate level -- double the size of the faculty in African American studies, and seek funds to endow the new center with the resources necessary to ensure its success, Tilghman said.
"The committee recommended that we become a center rather than a department because we felt that a center could do everything that departments do and more," said Professor of English Valerie Smith, the director of African American studies. "We wanted to be able to appoint faculty solely in AAS, as a department would be able to do, but we also imagined ourselves having a broad impact on the University curriculum and supporting new African American studies research."
Read the full account of Princeton’s expanded African American studies program here.
