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Our Mission

The Center for Africana Studies (CAfS) serves as a space of intellectual community, and as a primary scholarly resource for OSU students, faculty, staff, and the broader public, in pursuit of knowledge on the Black Diaspora. Our mission is to foster systematic, critical analyses of the multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary realms of the Black experience, centered in the U.S. and inclusive of the global diaspora.
The Center’s core and affiliated faculty teach a wide variety of courses that serve the Africana Studies Minor degree, general education and elective requirements. CAfS offers a presence and course offerings on the Stillwater and Tulsa campuses. We also host a wide variety of community-centered academic programming. Browse our site, embedded calendar and social media for views of the many ways to get involved with CAfS.

Administrative Team

Erica Townsend-Bell, Ph.D

Director
Associate Professor of Political Science

Professor Lawrence Ware, M.A. 

Associate Director
Teaching Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Core Faculty

Andrew Belton, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of English & Comparative Lit

Stephen Graves, Ph.D

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies 

Janice Levi, Ph.D

Visiting Assistant Professor of Africana Studies

Reanae McNeal, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, Gender, Women's and Sexuality Studies

Brandy Wells Thomas, Ph.D. 

Assistant Professor of History

LaRicka Wingate, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology

Center Support Staff

Karen Wilson, MSW

Program Coordinator

Vincent Burke

Advisor for Africana Studies

Guilen Ngongpah, Ph.D Candidate

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) 

Vanessa Oliphant, Ph.D Candidate

Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Center for Africana Studies

Imunique Gilliam

Undergraduate Staff Support 

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