DePaul will join the growing list of local universities offering degree programs in the area of black studies in the fall when it begins enrolling undergraduate students in its African and Black Diaspora Studies program.

According to Darrell Moore, associate professor of philosophy and acting chair of the new program, the timing could not be better for this addition to DePaul’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ program offerings. “Chicago is becoming the place to be for black studies. It has the vibrancy and the newness the way that New York did about six years ago,” said Moore, alluding to similar programs and high-profile faculty at institutions such as Northwestern, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago.

Black studies is not brand new to DePaul, having been offered as “Afro-American Studies” in the late 1960s in response to the demand by the university’s Black Student Union to establish a program that focused on the history and experiences of people of African descent. Although it began with a large interdisciplinary faculty, the program dwindled and was later abolished in the 1972-73 academic year. Moore and others associated with the birth of the African and Black Diaspora Studies program are confident that it will enjoy longevity. “There are faculty here who have a scholarly and community commitment,” said Moore. “We’ve arrived at a moment when we have not only a scholarly interest, but an institutional commitment.”

“I am pleased to see the development and implementation of a degree program in African and Black Diaspora Studies,” said Michael L. Mezey, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “The intellectually rigorous curriculum that the faculty has designed speaks to both local and global issues, and will expand the educational options available to all of our students.”

DePaul’s uniquely structured African and Black Diaspora Studies program was developed over the course of a year by a committee of faculty, the majority of which are African-American and African. The faculty represented a range in disciplines from history to religious studies, to public policy and international studies. The program offers students the opportunity to earn a bachelor of arts degree in African and Black Diaspora Studies with a concentration in Africa, Black America, or Afro-Caribbean and Latin America.

The program comprises 13 courses: four introductory core requirements; six courses in an area of concentration; two electives; and a senior seminar or capstone course. Junior-status students who enter the African and Black Diaspora Studies program in the fall will make up the first graduating class in 2004.

Courses are arranged under five sites of inquiry – history, power, identity, gender and race – that according to the program proposal, are designed to develop an understanding of the ways in which regions and peoples are interrelated. “These sites of inquiry are drawn from relatively recent scholarship both within and without the field, bringing Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States into relation with each other as well as Asia, Australia and the Pacific and Europe,” explained Moore.

Drafters of the program opted not to follow a more traditional or regional studies approach, focusing more on providing a well-grounded understanding of the African influences on world history – particularly of the Americas. The fact that DePaul’s program compares and contrasts three major fields of study – African, African-American and Caribbean and Latin American – distinguishes it from black studies programs at other universities.

Not only will students be able to identify, understand and resolve concrete issues, problems and conflicts faced by Africans and black people from around the world, they will be encouraged to grapple with values related to the inherent dignity of individuals, Moore said. “In accord with DePaul’s Vincentian tradition, the program will promote critical understanding of multiple value systems, world views, traditions and cultural practices that contribute to the human experience in complex and multifaceted ways.

“It becomes extremely difficult in an age of globalization to have an education without the understanding of the role people of African descent have played in modernity, ” continued Moore. “Inclusiveness of curriculum is essential to DePaul’s goal of enhancing the intellectual life of the university and community through a broader understanding of groups and societies.”

DePaul is the largest private institution of higher education in Chicago and the largest Catholic university in the country. Founded in 1898 by the Vincentian Fathers as a school for children of immigrants, DePaul’s mission is centered on community service, educational access and social justice. The university enrolls a richly diverse population of 21,363 students in nine colleges and schools. The office of African and Black Diaspora Studies is located on the fifth floor of the Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave. More information about the program may be obtained by calling 773/325-1144.