Department of African American and African Studies

Cynthia Young: Making Universities Accountable, Accessible, and Relevant

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Cynthia Young, associate professor and chair of the Ohio State University Department of African American and African Studies, discusses her vision for the department and the future of higher education. She emphasizes the importance of rethinking universities to be more accountable and relevant in the 21st century. Young creates courses that help students think critically about social issues and discusses the need for graduate programs to adapt to the evolving job landscape by equipping students with skills applicable beyond academia. Young and host David Staley conclude by discussing her journey into academia administration, emphasizing her delight in problem-solving and intellectual work, and how she has found administration to be a creative and collaborative field.

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OPEEP: Empowering Incarcerated Voices with Mary Thomas and Tiyi Morris

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Mary Thomas, Professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Tiyi Morris, Associate Professor in the Department of African American and African Studies, both serve as co-directors of the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project, also known as OPEEP. They talk about the program, which has brought Ohio State students and professors together with incarcerated individuals across the state in the context of higher learning. They also discuss transforming education through feminist pedagogies, decolonization, intergenerational learning, and accessibility.

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Judson Jeffries: Why the BLM Protests Look New

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Judson Jeffries, Professor of African American and African Studies, researches media studies, public policy, Homeland Security, African American politics, and police-community relations. He sees the BLM protests as having a new kind of participant and perhaps a new kind of possibility for success.

Diaspora, Beyoncé, and Law School: Prof. Simone Drake’s Academic Journeys

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Simone Drake, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of African American and African Studies, discusses her latest book, When We Imagine Grace: Black Men and Subject Making.

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