Pan-African Studies | Goals & Objectives

The Department has also engaged in a scaffolding process that synthesizes the Student Learning Outcomes and draws from the Department’s mission. The following goals (numbered) and corresponding objectives (indicated by letter) have been developed.

Grow and maintain a rigorous and scholarly interdisciplinary program that maintains its autonomy and specialized focus on research, study and engagement of Black people from a Black perspective.
1. Develop a comprehensive curriculum that addresses: 1. Continental and diasporic Black people. 2. Black people and key intersections (race, class, gender, and sexuality), 3. Theory and practice and the relationship between the two.
2. Forge key partnerships with related departments and programs, including Chicano/Latino Studies, Asian/Asian American Studies, Latin American Studies, and Women, Genders and Sexualities Studies.
3. Hire tenure line faculty, with a target faculty size of 10, to support and contribute to the sustainability of the Department.
4. Embed PAS courses in all areas of the General Education curriculum.
Prepare undergraduate students with adequate training to pursue advanced degrees in Pan-African Studies and related fields.
1. Offer a graduate school pipeline group each Fall to cohort and prepare PAS seniors to apply to graduate programs.
2. Provide conference attendance and participation opportunities for undergraduate students.
3. Establish a cutting-edge Master’s degree program in Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA.
Prepare students for professional careers in teaching, public service, international relations, social work, law, community development, and other fields.
1. Designate at least two general education classes as “civic learning” courses.
2. Offer a “fieldwork” capstone option.
3. Develop a community-engagement plan that funnels students into internships and provides paid and unpaid community work that can translate into work opportunities following graduation.
4. Formalize a partnership with Cal State Teach to matriculate students into teacher credential program and place them as classroom teachers, especially at schools in Black communities.
Provide opportunities for our students to acquire an insightful understanding of the role and significant contributions to human society by African peoples.
1. Offer at least four courses that have such a focus.
2. Offer at least one community engagement opportunity per year that deepens such an understanding.
3. Develop and implement at least four campus events and activities per year that engage students and community members around this goal.
Provide students with basic understanding of the particular challenges faced by Black people historically and in the contemporary world.
1. Offer at least four courses that have such a focus.
2. Offer at least one community engagement opportunity per year that deepens such an understanding.
3. Develop and implement at least four campus events and activities per year that engage students and community members around this goal.
Provide a fundamental understanding of those economics, social and political forces which have shaped Black experiences.
1. Offer at least four courses that have such a focus.
2. Offer at least one community engagement opportunity per year that deepens such an understanding.
3. Develop and implement at least four campus events and activities per year that engage students and community members around this goal.
Introduce students to community-engaged pedagogical and epistemological approaches.
1. Make experiential knowledge and learning central to the learning process for each PAS course.
2. Offer community-engaged fieldwork as a capstone option.
3. Introduce students who enroll in the Senior Thesis capstone to “action research” approach.
4. Model community-engaged scholarship in faculty research and teaching.
5. Create community-engagement opportunities in at least four PAS courses each academic year.