News & Events

The Department of African and African American Studies is pleased to offer a variety of events during the academic year.

To learn about our previous events, go to our News Archive or you can go to our Webcast page to find out how to view our archived events.

We often add new events and Webcasts. Please come back and visit us often.

Congratulations to the 2009 winners of the AAAS Prizes! (Please click here for a list of this year's prize winners.)

Faculty Honors :

The faculty and staff of the Department of African and African American Studies are proud of our honorees:

Two of the Department's professors were chosen by Harvard students as among 15 of Harvard's "hottest" young profs! Professor Glenda Carpio and Professor Duana Fullwiley are both honored in the April 28, 2009, edition of The Harvard Crimson Magazine. (Click on their name to read about them.)

Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Victor S. Thomas Professor of History and of African and African American Studies, was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in April, 2009, for promoting useful knowledge.

Professor Homi K. Bhabha will receive an honorary degree from the University of Paris VIII–Vincennes-Saint Denis in May. The Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities and Director of the Humanities Center at Harvard, Bhabha will serve as a juror at the 53rd International Art Exhibition at the Venice Biennale in June and deliver a keynote address at the "Changing the Humanities/The Humanities Changing" international conference as part of the 800th anniversary celebrations of the University of Cambridge, UK in July, 2009.

In addition to a Marta Sutton Weeks Fellowship to the Stanford Humanities Center for 2009-2010, Ingrid Monson, Quincy Jones Professor of African-American Music, Supported by the Time Warner Endowment, also received a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work on music in Mali in 2009-2010.

Suzanne Blier, Allen Whitehill Clowes Professor of Fine Arts and Professor of African and African American Studies, was named an Ailsa Mellon Bruce Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art (in D.C.) for the academic year 2009-2010. She also received a Fellowship at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute (declined).

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, and Director of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, is the recipient of the 2008 Ralph Lowell Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Television. The Ralph Lowell Award is public television's most prestigious award; its honorees have been chosen for their extraordinary efforts in public broadcasting, leadership at the national level, and education and professional development.

The Ralph Lowell Award recognizes the vision and creativity of Professor Gates's "African American Lives" series as well as his earlier films broadcast on PBS. He will receive the award on May 13, 2009.

Previous recipients of the Ralph Lowell Award include Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Julia Child, Ken Burns, Henry Hampton, Fred Rogers, and Bill Moyers.

Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Harvard College Professor, has received the American Political Science Association Public Policy Section 2008 prize for her paper, co-authored with Vesla Weaver, of the U. of Virginia Government Dept., “The Shifting Politics of Multiculturalism in the United States.”  The award will be presented at the APSA Annual Meeting, Sept 3 - 6, 2009 (Toronto, Canada). 

Of the fourteen Harvard faculty named to 2007 class of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) fellows, honorary members, two are members of our faculty:

James Sidanius, Professor of Psychology and Professor of African and African American Studies

David Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health in the Faculty of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies
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One of five honored as Harvard College Professors

Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government and Professor of African and African American Studies

“By elucidating the connections between race, politics, and education, Jennifer Hochschild not only teaches and inspires, she builds a better citizenry,” says David Pilbeam, Henry Ford II Professor of Human Evolution and interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “The Harvard College Professorship honors her deep commitment to her students.”
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One of two Abramson winners for excellence in teaching

Glenda Carpio, Assistant Professor of African and African American Studies and of English and American Literature and Lanuage

The award is given each spring to “a faculty member in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences in recognition of his or her excellence and sensitivity in teaching undergraduates.” It is accompanied by a grant that can be used for either summer salary or research.

Teaching Fellows and Teaching Assistants:

Congratulations to the following Teaching Fellows and Teaching Assistants from the AAAS department who will be awarded Certificates of Distinction for Excellence in Teaching for the spring term 2007!

Course and TF/TA:

AFRAMER 90r: African Language Tutorials: Nneka Agba

AFRAMER 90r: African Language Tutorials: Mouhamadou L. Diallo

AFRAMER 10: Introduction to African and African American Studies: Cameron Leader-Picone

AFRAMER 140z: The Other African Americans: Carla Denny Martin

SOC-ANAL 66: Michael Philip Jeffries

WOMGEN 1000: Jennifer Christine Nash

You can see the entire list of all recipients sorted by name or by course at:
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k1985&pageid=icb.page29684

These teachers scored 4.5 or higher on the CUE evaluations by their students, with 5 or more responses, for teaching during the Spring 2007 semester.

Certificates recipients were notified via email and paper invitations, and invited to a reception on Wednesday, October 10 at 4:00 pm.

If you see these award recipients, please congratulate them on their fine work!