Time to celebrate.

Filed under new developments: the Africana Studies program at Barnard was elevated to a Department this past week. The announcement on the Barnard website says,

Barnard announced this week that the College is elevating its popular Africana Studies Program to a full academic department, a move that comes just months after Africana studies celebrated its 20th anniversary. Since 1992, the program, which focuses on the multidisciplinary study of Africa and the Black Diaspora has experienced rapid growth, including the joint appointment of four faculty members with expertise in gender and diaspora. This, together with its strong curriculum and increasingly popular major and minor, helped distinguish Africana studies at Barnard as a leader among peer institutions and one of the College’s signature programs. The news of the Africana Studies Program’s elevation to a department signifies Barnard’s commitment to diversity and recognition of Africana studies as a thriving intellectual field of study.

“This is one of the strongest places in the country for doing Africana studies,” says Barnard President Debora Spar. “Africana studies at Barnard is vital, it’s growing, and it’s really core to much of what we do here.”

Also the department will be celebrating on October 17 at 7:30 at the Diana Oval with guest (and class of 1970 graduate) Thulani Davis presenting a lecture afterwards.

Congratulatory hand-holding via ShutterStock.