Founded in 1953, the African Studies Center at Boston University (ASC) now moves into its 53rd year with a well-earned reputation for excellence in teaching, research, publications, African language instruction, and public outreach. It is a mature program making major contributions to our national capacity to acquire and disseminate knowledge about Africa and its affairs. It has long served as a model program, demonstrating how a tightly integrated unit can effectively mobilize the separate energies contained within its university and community settings and focus them on a concrete intellectual agenda. Strong institutional support, flexibility of administration, and a decision-making style that stresses inclusiveness make the African Studies Center a program capable of responding rapidly and effectively to the ever-changing needs of the Africanist community.
The ASC has a solid intellectual anchor in a core of well-known senior scholars engaged in stimulating and productive interaction with promising young Africanists. This fusion of perspectives enlivens and enriches the work of all, and is fundamental to the ASC's capacity to coordinate and carry out a broad range of interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary research. With over 70 affiliated faculty members, based in 20 departments and professional schools, the ASC has a uniquely wide range of expertise to draw upon in designing its academic, applied, and outreach programs.
As the only Title VI Center at Boston University, the ASC is a highly visible program, well-regarded for its contributions to the overall quality of academic life. From the Greater Boston area, with its historically rich array of institutions of higher learning, the ASC is able to attract the support and participation of an unmatched group of Africanist scholars. Faculty from 10 universities and regional colleges participate formally in the intellectual life of the ASC through its Research Fellows Program. The ASC is linked to Harvard, M.I.T., Tufts, Boston College, and Northeastern University through consortium cross-registration agreements. The African Studies Library is the best organized and most accessible Africana collection in the Northeast. Contact with the general public is wide-ranging and varied through the ASC's Outreach Program. The Language staff is at the forefront of research on African language acquisition and has been instrumental in the development of national standards of language proficiency. The ASC's seminars, colloquia, and workshops are broadly attended. They provide a local forum for the presentation and critical assessment of new ideas that often have global implications. Additionally, many ASC faculty, fellows, and students are involved in collaborative projects with faculty at neighboring institutions. The ASC, thus, takes seriously its historical obligation to continually devise more effective ways of making its resources accessible to its multiple constituencies and to serve as a catalyst and a focal point for serious discourse on Africanist issues in the Northeast.
