Pennsylvania State University has announced the establishment of a new dual-title doctoral degree program in African American and diaspora studies. According to the university’s count, Penn State will be the 12th university in the United States to offer doctoral degrees in African American studies.
Paul Taylor, chair of the African American studies department and associate professor of philosophy at Penn State, stated, “Our new Ph.D. program will train students to teach and produce new knowledge on understanding the forces that shape and link the worlds of African descended populations, beginning with the U.S. and the broader Americas, but also in Europe and Asia. There will be emphases on U.S. slavery, emancipation, colonial and post-colonial periods up to the civil rights and post-civil rights area in America, but in addition, our faculty will look at the contemporary forms of globalization and migration.”
Professor Taylor received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Morehouse College and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Rutgers University. He is the author of the book Race: A Philosophical Introduction (Polity, 2004).
