The Lincoln University, a historically Black educational institution in Pennsylvania, has announced that it will be offering a new major in Pan-Africana studies. The new major will seek to link the entire study of ancient and modern or contemporary Africa as well as that of Africans in the Diaspora with a goal of creating global leaders and world humanitarians. The new major, which will be offered to students beginning this fall, will be among the first of its kind to include options for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and professional concentrations.
D. Zizwe Poe, professor of history at The Lincoln University, stated that “we are hoping that the program recruits not only people of African descent, but Africans throughout the world even non-Africans interested in studying the world through the lens of African culture and interests.”
Dr. Poe said that much of the new major’s curriculum is made up of courses already offered across a number of academic areas. However, two courses will be added, but not needed until a major’s junior year: one that addresses the Eurasian experience of African descendants and another on Blacks in the sciences and/or Africa’s contributions to the sciences.
Dr. Poe is a graduate of San Jose State University in California. He earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. at Temple University in Philadelphia.
