Dear Faculty,
Research centers historically have led communications about center activities beginning with their establishment, resulting in different approaches to timing, communication channels and audiences. To ensure consistent visibility for the establishment of all new centers going forward, the provost and vice chancellor for research and innovation will formally announce new research centers when they are authorized. In accordance with this new process, we are announcing a newly established center below.
We are today announcing that the University of Colorado Boulder has established the Center for African and African American Studies (CAAAS and colloquially called the Cause) to support teaching and research on the history and culture of Africa, African Americans and the African diaspora.
CAAAS will provide a platform to build on the work of the more than 25 CU Boulder faculty members already making contributions to African, African American and African Diaspora Studies. The center will be housed within the Graduate School, with Reiland Rabaka, professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies, serving as its founding director.
CAAAS will support teaching, research and creative work on the history, culture and struggles of people of African descent around the world and provide a forum for collaboration and the ongoing exchange of ideas. It will stimulate scholarly engagement in African, African American and African Diaspora Studies at CU Boulder and beyond, and it will increase public awareness and understanding of these important areas of scholarship, visual and performing arts, and pedagogy.
CAAAS will build on CU Boulder’s existing strengths in various departments, programs, centers and institutes, and establish an international, intersectional and interdisciplinary center committed to the production and dissemination of knowledge about, and the historic and current arts of, Africa, African Americans, and the broader African diaspora.
Focus areas of the center include:
- Africa and Africans’ contributions to world history and culture, including the United States, and specifically Colorado and the Denver/Boulder metropolitan area.
- The African diaspora’s contributions to world history and culture, with an emphasis on its contributions to the United States, and specifically Colorado and the Denver/Boulder metropolitan area.
- African Americans’ contributions to United States history and culture, with an emphasis on their contributions to Colorado and the Denver/Boulder metropolitan area.
Student support functions and services affiliated with CAAAS are in the process of being formulated and will be announced soon.
CU Boulder faculty members include more than two dozen scholars and artists who work on African and African American Studies issues or have interdisciplinary concerns that meaningfully intersect with, and contribute to, African and African American Studies.
Establishment of centers at CU Boulder
CU Boulder centers are single or multidisciplinary units organized to conduct research, scholarship and creative work, education and/or leadership and service activities.
CentersÌýare typically organized around the investigation of a specific theme, issue, project or policy topic, but often encompass interdisciplinary work spanning a number of academic fields. Centers generally have collaborative intent, and an annual operating budget that is, in part, fiscally independent of academic units.
TheÌýestablishment and reauthorization of centersÌýis administered by theÌýResearch & Innovation Office (RIO)Ìýon behalf of the university. The dean or director (or their designee) of the parent unit—the college, school, institute, etc. responsible for oversight of a center—recommends the establishment of the proposed center to the vice chancellor for research and innovation. RIO ensures that all proposals for new centers are reviewed and approved by University Counsel and the Office of Budget & Fiscal Planning prior to authorization. Those that do not satisfy the review process will not be approved.
A campus announcement on CAAAS will be forthcoming in all editions of CU Boulder Today.
Russ and Terri
Russell Moore
Provost
Terri Fiez
Vice Chancellor for
Research & Innovation