Northwestern University to Host a Summit of Black Studies Doctoral Programs

Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, has announced a three-day conference in April that will bring together students and faculty from the 11 American universities that offer doctoral programs in African American studies. The 11 institutions offering doctoral programs in Black studies are: Brown University, Harvard University, Indiana University, Michigan State University, Northwestern University, Temple University, Yale University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of California Berkeley, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Pennsylvania.

The conference, entitled “A Beautiful Struggle: Transformative Black Studies in Shifting Political Landscapes,” will feature a keynote address by Elizabeth Alexander, chair of the department of African American studies at Yale University.

Celeste Watkins-Hayes chair of the department of African American studies at Northwestern, explains one of the reasons for the conference: “We’re celebrating the imminent graduation of our first cohort of Ph.D. students in African American studies and providing them and other scholars with the opportunity to present their work.”

Professor Watkins-Hayes has taught at Northwestern since 2003. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Spelman College and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University.