2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 117
LSU celebrated the establishment of the new
Department of African and African American Studies
on Sunday during a launch party.
Initially just an LSU program, the AAAS was
founded in 1994 and was voted to become a
department on Feb. 24, 2021 by the LSU Board of
Regents. A previous director of the program and
currently the new inaugural chair of the department,
Stephen C. Finley, said there is lots of work to do and
money to raise, and that the future of the department
will be what they make it.
“What we put into AAAS, the new department,
what the college and university invest in it, and the
work we give to it will be what the department will be
and will determine its greatness,” Finley said.
The significance of LSU having AAAS as a
department instead of a program means the potential
for new resources and new vision, Finley said. He
believes a department can do more than a program
through expanding faculty, endless possibility and
meeting the needs of students and the university.
“My goal is to be a part of building a department
that has a high profile in the university and the college
and the region and in the nation and we have great
scholars who can participate in making that a reality,”
Finley said.
The celebration’s guests were entertained with a live
jazz band, food and multiple performances from the
LSU Gospel Choir.
Matt Lee, interim executive vice president and
provost, made an appearance, emphasizing that LSU is
“finally” witnessing the establishment of AAAS as an
actual department.
“Although we are a hub of innovation and
experimentation and transformational thought, we
are for whatever reason also extraordinarily resistant
to change in terms of the structures and processes by
which we carry out our mission,” Lee said.
Currently, 5,485 African American students are
enrolled in LSU, which is greater than any another
point in the school’s history, Lee said. The four-year
graduation rate of African American students has
increased by 8% in the last three years and is predicted
to continue increasing within the next few years.
“This department makes us a more well-rounded
university. It makes us more inviting, more welcoming
and frankly, it makes us a more human institution,” Lee
said.
Troy Blanchard, dean of the college of humanities
and social sciences, was also a guest speaker, and he
was proud to announce the launch of the department,
also giving recognition to past program directors and
staff that contributed to the establishment of AAAS.
“Our newly founded department of African and
African American studies promises to bring together
intellectual traditions that will make extraordinary an
contribution to the LSU campus through both stellar
research transformative teaching,” Blanchard said.
The celebration featured keynote speaker Victor
Anderson, a professor at Vanderbilt University, and
he presented an inaugural address called “Mimetic
Fire and the Making of Black Studies,” after which he
answered questions from the audience.
At the end of the night, awards were given out to
special figures who helped evolve the program to what
it is today.
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