The mission of the Department of African Studies is to create, nurture and promote an educational and intellectual culture that provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to acquire knowledge and develop interdisciplinary skills that enable deeper and more productive understandings of Africa and Africans in both an historical and contemporary context and their role in and contribution to humanity and the global community. Our mission, furthermore, is to produce a cadre of African American, American, international and other minority graduates equipped with knowledge and interdisciplinary skills to engage in problem solving, teaching, research and professional careers in African and international affairs and development. The main objective of graduate studies in the Department is to train scholars in the field of African Studies with emphasis on contemporary issues of public policy and development in Africa. The program cultivates and promotes interdisciplinary approaches to studying African historical, political, economic, social and cultural issues and provides necessary skills for critically understanding, analyzing and addressing problems and potential solutions. The department prepares undergraduate majors to undertake graduate studies and prepares all graduate as well as undergraduate majors for careers and service in local, national and international private, public and non-profit institutions and organizations.

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