PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (April 11, 2022) For Melanye Price, Ph.D., it has been fulfilling to do the work accomplished in the first phase of the grant from the Mellon Foundation to the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice. When the Foundation presented the opportunity to conceive a second phase of the project, it was nothing short of exciting.
With the $600,000 in funding from Mellon, Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) will launch African American Studies (AAS) as a degree option in the fall of 2022.
The AAS program will offer undergraduate students training rooted in the humanities and related social and behavioral sciences. The interdisciplinary degree will promote critical thinking and provide students with practical experiences and internships.
“The impact for students of having an AAS program is limitless,” said Price. “There are students who did not minor in African American Studies because it was so embedded in history. We will have an interdisciplinary approach to the programming, which positions us to engage those students and keep them interested.”
Price, an endowed professor of political science and director of the Center, who has always taught in the African American Studies space, is working with faculty across disciplines to develop a cutting-edge program.
In the first stage of the “Enhancing the Humanities at Prairie View A&M University through African American Studies” grant from the Mellon Foundation, the team created the African American Studies (AAS) Initiative. They engaged in three primary activities that involved increasing scholarly and intellectual exchanges, faculty capacity, and course offerings for students. The new funding will allow the formation of a degree program.
“This next phase of the Mellon Foundation will impact the lives of future scholars who will pursue the newly-established bachelor’s degree in African American Studies,” said Magesh Rajan, vice president, PVAMU Research & Innovation. “The program will enrich their lives by expanding their knowledge of history, culture, and diaspora of African Americans, whose influence can be seen worldwide. And the research opportunities and collaborations afforded faculty, students, and staff, will be life-changing and career-enhancing.”
African Americans represent a diaspora. The AAS curriculum will ensure that students understand the global Black dynamics that make up the African American experience. The AAS program will focus on historical and cultural preservation and producing graduates attracted to careers as curators, museum technicians, and archivists.
Price stated, “It is not just about the very narrow perception of African Americans. It is African descendant people who find themselves in America, so that includes African immigrants, Caribbean immigrants, Afro Latino, and more.”
“We’re going to develop a process such that every student who graduates with a bachelor’s degree in African American Studies will have a unique experience. One that shapes the course of their time here and shapes how they choose to pursue their profession and what they do with the rest of their lives,” said Price.
James M. Palmer, Ph.D. and Melanye Price, Ph.D.
Faculty will establish a capstone course requiring students to integrate and use fundamental concepts that focus on African American Studies to create a project containing artifacts representing their achievements and specialization within their fields of interest.
“The capstone experience will be interdisciplinary in nature with student learning outcomes expecting the integration of knowledge and concepts learned throughout the course of study; the demonstration of specialized knowledge of students’ fields of interest; the ability to synthesize, analyze and present complex issues within African American Studies; and the creation of artifacts that may be used for personal, commercial, and/or professional advancement beyond graduation,” said James M. Palmer, provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, who worked on both Mellon proposals.
“I’m also excited that we can continue the faculty summer workshop series; it is very popular, and it’s an opportunity to invite people to the campus,” said Price.
Price hosted lectures by nationally renowned scholars like Cornel West and Nell Painter with funding from the AAS initiative. That forum also provided a space for conversations around race relations at the height of the George Floyd murder trial and the global coronavirus pandemic.
PVAMU recently achieved the prestigious Carnegie R2 (Research 2) designation, the second-highest research ranking for universities.
Price stated, “What we will do now expands our research profile as an institution. The academic community will understand that in addition to expertise in the STEM disciplines, you can come here and get an amazing experience.”
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Karen B. Cotton, MS, MA