The University of Central Arkansas will soon offer a degree program that will mesh cultures and teach a non-traditional American history that continues to shape the culture today.
In May, the UCA Board of Trustees approved a proposal to create a Bachelor of Arts degree in African/African-American Studies ? the first of its kind in the state.
In 1998, UCA established a minor in African/African-American Studies, which today enrolls about 30 students. Dr. Jay Ruud, chair of the English Department, said the department began developing the new degree program after students expressed interest in also having a major.
?We did a survey of introductory course students, and a large number were interested in majoring in it,? Ruud said.
Developing the program has been a big project and Dr. Conrad Shumaker has guided the process. Shumaker has been teaching classes for the minor and developed an interest in the project. He began working on it in July of 2003.
Shumaker said some of the most prestigious schools in the country, ones noted for excellence, are starting to offer the degree. Harvard recently instituted an African/African-American program. Even with few programs to look toward when developing the program, Shumaker decided to consider what was important to UCA and mold the program into something different.
?I looked at few models and found in a way this is unique,? Shumaker said. ?We put this together in the way we wanted it to be. If you are going to offer a degree, you have to ask what do you want it to do??
The degree is an interdisciplinary program that includes social science, history and literature. It will focus mainly on the last two bringing the English and history departments together. Shumaker hopes the program can grow and develop over time to include classes in other departments.
?I hope down the line another professor will be hired in a department that isn?t currently contributing to the program, like sociology or political science,? Shumaker said. ?But it depends on funding and departmental priorities.?
Shumaker?s desire to learn about the literature of other cultures helps him spark students? interest in the subject. He said there are a number of students who really do not know anything about the history and literature of Africa.
?I?ve always been interested in the margins, the outsiders, of literature and how other cultures deal with mainstream America,? Shumaker said. ?There?s a whole body of literature that?s been left out. I have students who are reading Fredrick Douglas for the first time and want to know why they didn?t read it in high school.?
There are a lot of issues dealing with race that affect American life but are not understood. Shumaker sees that in his classes as well but he said over time students learn how to talk about things that would normally make them uncomfortable in a classroom.
?In teaching, I?ve found there are a lot of issues students are reluctant to talk about like discrimination,? Shumaker said. ?There is a mixture of perspectives, and there is a difference in perspectives among people in each race. You really have to establish trust, and it takes a while. Students learn you can have a disagreement without anger.?
Because the minor has been in place for the past few years and some of the classes are already being taught the department only requested one new teacher in the degree proposal. They hired Dr. Isiah Lavender III to teach Introduction to African/African-American Studies and an African/African-American literature class in the fall. Shumaker describes Lavender as very knowledgeable, energetic and enthusiastic.
Shumaker said the department?s main goal is to let the program grow and change as it needs and to be able to change the core if more classes in another department start being offered.
?We wanted people to know what we put in place was solid but a work in progress to evolve,? Shumaker said. ?We need to make it clear that this literature and this history are important to who we are as a people.?
-Rachel Roberts
