New Department of Africana Studies established

2010-07-29T14:51:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame has established a new Department of Africana Studies, effective July 1.The new department will replace the existing African and African-American Studies Program (AFAM) and will enhance the Universitys efforts to promote diversity and multiculturalism.

Housed in the humanities division of theCollegeofArtsand Letters, the Department of Africana Studies will offer an interdisciplinary curriculum in which undergraduates study the African-American experience; the histories, literatures, political systems, arts, economies and religions of the African continent; and the African diaspora – the global dispersion of people of African descent.

“The Catholic Church is growing faster in Africa than in any other part of the world, and a department dedicated specifically to the interdisciplinary study ofAfricaand the African diaspora is at the heart of the Universitys Catholic mission,” said Mark W. Roche, I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of Arts and Letters.“The research, teaching and service initiatives of the new department will build upon Notre Dame’s deep and longstanding ties to countries such asGhana,Kenya,TanzaniaandUganda.”

Richard B. Pierce, the Carl E. Koch Jr. Assistant Professor of History, has been appointed chair of the Africana studies department. Pierce specializes in African-American, urban and civil rights history, and examines social and political protest in urban environments.

A member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1996, Pierce previously served asassociate director of the former AFAM program and is a fellow in the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies.

He will hold a joint appointment in the Department of Africana Studies and the Department of History.Faculty members affiliated with the former AFAM program will continue teaching in the new department, and a search for additional faculty will continue.

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Originally published by Susan Guibert at newsinfo.nd.edu on June 01, 2005.

Notre Dame launches new Italian studies program

2010-07-29T14:49:00-04:00

The University of Notre Dame is home to an impressive number of scholars whose research and teaching focus on Italy. Now, thanks to support from the College of Arts and Letters and two grants awarded by the Office of Research, the University will further extend its engagement with that country in the form of an interdisciplinary program in Italian studies.

The goal is to make the University the preeminent center for interdisciplinary Italian studies outside of Italy, and to further support the Notre Dame Humanities Center in Italy. The center will establish a vibrant University presence in Rome, much like the University already has in London and Dublin.

Led by steering committee co-chairs Joseph A. Buttigieg, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English; and Theodore J. Cachey Jr., Albert J. and Helen M. Ravarino Family Director of Dante and Italian Studies, the program brings together for the first time scholars from a broad spectrum of disciplines, including architecture, art, classics, literature and history.

“The Italian studies program extends and enriches the interdisciplinary character of the humanities in general and of Italian studies in particular,” Cachey said. “Our goal is to enable and promote collaboration among faculty and graduate students from diverse units of the University and to connect them with their counterparts in universities and research institutions across the world.”

Nearly 30 faculty members from more than ten departments are already engaged in various activities and collaborative research projects with their counterparts in leading universities, academies and research centers in Italy, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Italian studies program connects these endeavors to further support existing and new working relationships. It will bring to campus resources and researchers in collaboration with other departments, institutes and programs.

“The Italian studies program exemplifies the opportunities that arise when we collaborate: if we coordinate our efforts we’ll achieve a lot more than if we work in isolation,” Buttigieg said.

Funding from the Office of Research comes from two sources: Strategic Research Investment (SRI) and the Library Acquisitions Grant programs. SRI funds will support an annual three-week interdisciplinary summer seminar in Rome and will sponsor related faculty and graduate student research projects and exchanges between Notre Dame and the University of Rome Sapienza, the Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Ambrosiana Library) in Milan, the Catholic University of Milan (Sacro Cuore), the Italian National Dictionary Project and the Universities of Cambridge and Leeds and the University of California-Berkeley, among others. The grant also will fund an administrative and teaching faculty position.

The Library Acquisitions grant, “All Roads Lead to Rome,” funds an expansion of the Hesburgh Library’s holdings on diverse aspects of Roman architecture, art and art history, classics and social and political history. Acquisitions related to cartography, monuments and travel to Rome from antiquity to the end of the early modern period will significantly enhance opportunities for interdisciplinary research at the University.

Susan Ohmer, assistant provost at Notre Dame, is pleased with the impact the Library Acquisitions Grant Program will have.

“By providing funding for a wide range of interdisciplinary materials, this grant enables students and faculty to immerse themselves in their discipline, to continue to develop their expertise, to establish strong international relationships and to further contribute to their area of study,” she said.

Contact: Joseph Buttigieg, buttigieg.1@nd.edu; Theodore Cachey, tcachey@nd.edu

Originally published by Renee Hochstetler, Office of Research at newsinfo.nd.edu on June 18, 2010.

Department of Africana Studies // Department of Africana Studies

New Department of Africana Studies established

Notre Dame launches new Italian studies program