Recommendation:

That the Faculty recommend to the Dean approval of the Implementation of a Ph.D. in Africology as described below.

Rationale:

See below, especially section 4.

I. PROGRAM IDENTIFICATION

1.1	Title of Proposed Program Ph.D. in Africology
1.2	Department or Functional Equivalent Department of Africology
1.3	College, School, or Functional Equivalent College of Letters and Science
1.4	Timetable for Initiation Semester I, 2008-2009
1.5	Delivery Program will be delivered on campus, in person, keeping open the possibility of exploring online delivery if future need for such is indicated.

2. CONTEXT

2.1 History of the Program

Africology, as a subject-matter discipline, is ancient. Within the context of other traditional disciplines, africology, by many other names, always has been a focus of instruction and research in the American academy. However, it is just within the last half of the twentieth century that africology developed as a distinct discipline in its own right. As an institutional discipline in the American academy, africology has emerged out of Black Studies, Afro-American Studies, Africana Studies, and the like. The disciplinary label, "africology," is a relatively recent creation, prompted by the need to distinguish a program with a broad perspective from those that focus primarily or exclusively on either African-American or African Studies. UWM's program, with an interest in Africa, its diaspora, and the world-wide influence of cultures of African origin, has that broad perspective. Additionally, the africology label recognizes the emergence of a body of theory and methodologies unique to Africology. Still in its disciplinary infancy, africology will continue to develop and define itself during the twenty-first century. With the approval of the Ph.D. in africology, UWM will be one of the leaders in this process.

The last half of the twentieth century saw the evolution of africology at UWM from a small center to a department housing eleven faculty members that now is poised to implement a Ph.D. The UWM campus established the Center for Afro-American Culture in 1969 to provide students with the opportunity to acquire an understanding of the Black community and self that was not gained through a traditional college curriculum. The Center was administered by a director who reported to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. In 1971, the Center became the Department of Afro-American Studies within the College of Letters and Science and began to offer courses. Its undergraduate major was approved in 1980, with a minor following in 1986. A name change to the Department of Africology was approved effective fall, 1994, to reflect more accurately the Department's focus on the past experiences and future prospects of people of African origin, both in the U.S. and around the world. Establishment of the Ph.D. is the next step in this evolutionary process.

The africology Ph.D. builds upon the foundation laid by the Department's undergraduate program, approved by the Board of Regents in 1980, and implemented in the fall of that year. Organized around two concentrations, political economy and culture and society, the major has allowed graduates to pursue graduate education in a wide range of fields, such as history, law, medicine, and social work at institutions. UWM's africology graduates have been admitted to many well-respected graduate programs at institutions such as University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Chicago, Marquette University's Law School, the Medical College of Wisconsin, Wayne State University's Medical School, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Social Welfare. These examples attest to the fact that UWM's undergraduate major in africology satisfies the expectations of major institutions in the American academy regarding the necessary undergraduate preparation for advanced graduate and professional studies.

Activities of the faculty members of the Department of Africology have not been restricted to the realm of undergraduate education. Over the years, faculty members in the Department of Africology have worked extensively with graduate students, both nationally and internationally. Members of the faculty have taught graduate students in courses offered by the Department of Africology and have been members of faculties at other institutions with graduate programs (Ph.D. /M.A.). Here at UWM, africologists have served on dissertation committees in anthropology, urban studies, English, and history and participated in the examination of Ph.D. and M.A. students.

The proposed Ph.D. program is grounded on the Department's instructional and research experience and strength regarding political economy and public policy, as well as culture and society. It constitutes conceptually and empirically a sound extension, expansion, and elevation of programmatic elements that underlie the B.A. degree. In fact, the undergraduate major originally was constructed to evolve seamlessly into a Ph.D. graduate program. With the unequivocal support of UWM's College of Letters and Science and campus administration, the proposed Ph.D. embodies the program that the original designers of the B.A. in africology envisioned.

2.2 Instructional Setting of the Program

The proposed Ph.D. program will be housed in the Department of Africology in the College of Letters and Science. The Department is heavily involved in cross-disciplinary academic activities as well as those with a strong international component. Members of the africology faculty are engaged in research pertaining to HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and locally. Interdisciplinary collaboration frames the Ph.D. in africology. The Departments of Africology and English have an agreement allowing access to expertise in each department for their respective students. Cooperative research projects with the Department of Economics have enhanced the experiences of faculty members in both departments. (See section 3.7 below for additional information.)

2.3 Relation to Mission Statement and Strategic Academic Plan

As one of the UW System's two doctoral institutions, UWM has a responsibility to the State to "offer degree programs at the baccalaureate, master's and doctoral levels" and to "conduct organized programs of research," as well as to "... encourage faculty and staff participation in outreach activity" [The Core Mission of the UWS Doctoral Cluster]. The Ph.D. in africology will address these responsibilities through its instructional, research, and service components.

The Select Mission of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee has articulated the following goals, which will be addressed by the Africology Ph.D.:

• To develop and maintain high quality undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education programs appropriate to a major urban doctoral university;
• To engage in a sustained research effort that will enhance and fulfill the University's role as a doctoral institution of academic and professional excellence;
• To continue development of a balanced array of high quality doctoral programs in basic disciplines and professional areas;
• To attract highly qualified students who demonstrate the potential for intellectual development, innovation, and leadership for their communities;
• To further academic and professional opportunities at all level for women, minority, part-time, and financially or educationally disadvantaged students;
• To establish and maintain productive relationships with appropriate public and private organizations at the local, regional state, national, and international levels;
• To promote public service and research efforts directed toward meeting the social, economic, and cultural needs of the State of Wisconsin and its metropolitan areas.

This spirit resonates in the mission of the College of Letters and Science, which is "to provide excellent instruction and conduct high-quality research in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences... The College functions within the evolving role of American liberal arts colleges: seeking out, preserving, and transmitting knowledge to provide an intellectual foundation in the basic areas of knowledge and to foster critical thinking about human problems and their solutions."

The campus has defined as "[t]he main objective of [its] strategic plan [June, 1996] ...to firmly establish UWM as one of the nation's premier urban research universities ... and thereby increase the value of a UWM degree and increase the university's value to Milwaukee and Wisconsin." In this context, the institution strives to strengthen and to integrate more effectively "the university's central functions of creating, disseminating and applying knowledge...[and c]ontinu[ing] to develop new undergraduate and graduate programs [that are] responsive to the changing needs of society."

The spirit, substance, and purpose of UWM's and the College of Letters and Science's missions are at the heart of Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago's vision of expanding the range of UWM's research activities through broadening the scope of its Ph.D. offerings, and they are consistent with the theme of UWM as a major research institution in the American academy. Given the experiences and interests of its faculty members, the Department of Africology is well-positioned to educate doctoral students in the context of the research agenda that Chancellor Santiago has articulated for UWM as well as to contribute in a significant way to the improvement of life in Milwaukee, the State, and the international sphere.

Given (1) that the greatest concentration of Wisconsin's population is to be found in the Milwaukee metropolitan area; (2) that the African-American population in Milwaukee and many cities of the United States continues to expand; (3) Africa's renewed and expanding role in world affairs as the twenty-first century unfurls, especially because of its yet unexploited raw materials; and (4) the need for new ideas, concepts, hypotheses, and theories of social, cultural, economic, and political organization to describe, explain, evaluate, and predict the objective realities of Africans and their descent, a Ph.D. program in africology at UWM is a most timely and compelling response to "the changing needs of society" (Strategic Plan for the Future of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, June 1986).

Finally, a Ph.D. in africology at UWM is timely especially in the context of the UW System Plan 2008: Educational Quality through Racial and Ethnic Diversity. As the UW System strives to be ever more accountable to its many constituencies, approval of the Ph.D. in africology will send a very strong signal to the residents of the Milwaukee metropolitan area that African-related education at its very highest level is an institutional priority of the highest order. Furthermore, because the Ph.D. in africology will be available to students from any background, it assuredly will help to foster an institutional environment and curricular developments that enhance domains of inquiry, discourse, and learning that make manifest respect for racial and ethnic diversity.

3. DESCRIPTION

3.1 Program Description

The proposed Ph.D. program is an expression of africology as both a subject-matter discipline and an institutional discipline. UWM's institutional delivery of a Ph.D. in africology will make use of relevant structures, not only at the university, but throughout the entire University of Wisconsin System where appropriate, as elements of the discipline's vast subject matter are concentrated in order to prepare graduates to become the very best disciplinary and extra-disciplinary professionals that they can be.

The Ph.D. in africology is grounded in the axiomatic assumption that, as the imperatives of global integration significantly transform human relations, the twenty-first century will witness an exponential expansion of the institutional delivery of africological knowledge. Across the planet today, Africa remains the only continent with a vast store of natural resources (e.g., uranium, oil, copper, nickel) that are underutilized. With the demand for energy increasing exponentially world-wide, knowledge and understanding of the cultures and political economies of African countries and societies clearly are in the self-interest of the global community. Because of this twenty-first century imperative, the Department of Africology has designed the Ph.D. degree around concentrations in 1) Political Economy and Public Policy, 2) Culture and Society: Africa and the African Diaspora, and 3) a concentration outside the department in the student's area of interest.

The Ph.D. will require completion of 54 graduate credits earned in graduate-only courses. The average student who enters the program with a baccalaureate degree and who is able to devote full time to academic study will complete the degree in six years. At the core of the program is a 12-credit requirement in forms of reasoning. Additionally, students, in consultation with their advisors, will select 12 credits in each of their three fields of concentration and will earn 6 credits for completing the dissertation.

The fields of concentration are the substantive heart of the Ph.D. program. Political economy involves the normative and empirical relations of political and economic phenomena in given sociocultural contexts. Public policy entails the making of binding authoritative decisions that produce, allocate, reproduce, and reallocate societal resources. Political, economic, cultural, and social elements interact continually in every political economy, and public policy substantially frames their patterns of interaction. Through a range of research methods and techniques, the concentration in political economy and public policy grounds students in local, national, and transnational political economies and public policies. Relevant courses and seminars in such fields as economics, political science, sociology, urban planning, geography, and history will be utilized.

All cultures share in common at least seven attributes. These are species life, species being, language, religion, food, literature-art-science-technology, institutions, and transgenerational memory. Systematic comparisons of these elements of cultures in Africa and in the African Diaspora worldwide afford sound explanations of, and novel insights into, the behaviors of Africans and their descent. This concentration in comparative cultures will enable students to scrutinize rigorously exchanges, admixtures, fusions, retentions, and disappearances of cultural elements in Africa and the African Diaspora in regard to their contemporary significance. Relevant courses and seminars in English, foreign languages and literatures, history, and sociology will complement those offered in the Department.

3.2 Mission and Objectives

The proposed Ph.D. program has defined its mission as follows:

• to provide graduate students with a sound education in the logics of normative and empirical inquiry and discourse pertaining to the discovery, recovery, construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction of knowledge concerning the life histories and life prospects of Africans and their descent;
• to nurture and develop scholars and professionals whose knowledge and expertise position them to engage conceptually, empirically, and pragmatically -- with a good measure of wisdom -- congeries of municipal, national, and global problems, concerns, issues, and possibilities in relation to Africans and their descent worldwide;
• to add to the number of scholars in africology institutionally who actually have been educated in africology by subject matter, because africology at present draws virtually all of its members in the professoriate from other disciplines, especially ones in the social sciences and the humanities;
• to add to the institutional distinctiveness of UWM through research and instruction in africology at the doctoral level by making UWM one of a bare handful of universities in the American academy that prepares students for roles in the future for which the Ph.D. in africology will position them;
• to open a variety of career paths (e.g., academic positions in colleges and universities, positions in public and private schools, policy-making, government institutions) to individuals who complete the Ph.D. degree. The Department of Africology places the highest premium on the placement of its Ph.D. graduates into appropriate positions. And so, by design, the Ph.D. program aims at graduating individuals whose subject-matter knowledge and technical skills make them very attractive to prospective employers, as they evince both expertise and adaptability.

To accomplish its mission, the Department has established the following student learning outcomes:

• students will identify, analyze, and apply appropriate forms of reasoning to historical and contemporary global, social, political and economic issues;
• students will formulate a thesis, collect and analyze data, and present a cogent argument in support of their interpretation of those data;
• students will evaluate the validity of other arguments in their fields of expertise.

3.3 Curriculum

Admission Requirements

Applicants to the program must satisfy the requirements of UWM's Graduate School, as well as hold a bachelor's or master's degree in africology or a related discipline. Normally, students are admitted only for the fall semester; however, in extraordinary circumstances, a student may be permitted to begin Ph.D. studies in the spring semester. The Department will not offer a terminal MA degree; therefore, students applying without a master's degree are admitted to the Ph.D. program in the equivalent of master's student status, which they will retain until they have completed the equivalent of a UWM master's degree and are recommended by the department for doctoral student status.

Students entering the Ph.D. program with a Master's degree will consult with the Director of Graduate Studies who will determine the suitability of any master's-level coursework to count toward the Ph.D. degree. Generally, only coursework taken toward a master's degree in African American or African Diasporic Studies will be considered as satisfying requirements of the Ph.D. degree. Students with a master's degree in other fields must demonstrate a significant emphasis on African American or African diasporic studies in order to have any of their master's-level coursework apply toward the Ph.D. The Graduate School requires that at least half of the graduate credits required for the Ph.D. be completed at UWM in doctoral status. This policy and the Graduate School's "continuous-year residence requirement" will limit the number of credits from the master's degree that may apply to the Ph.D.

The following materials must be submitted for an applicant to be considered for admission:

• at least two letters of recommendation from individuals who are familiar with the applicant's academic work;
• a sample of the individual's written work, signaling the applicant's aptitude for graduate study;
• a lucid and cogent personal statement from the applicant indicating the individual's reasons for pursuing graduate study;
• undergraduate and graduate transcripts; We expect students to have distinguished themselves in their undergraduate or MA programs. To be admitted in good standing an applicant must possess a minimum GPA of at least a 3.33 (B+). Applicants lacking the requisite GPA may be admitted on probation;
• GRE scores from all students, and TOEFL scores from non-native English speakers.

Language or Mathematics/Statistics Proficiency

Students are expected to enter the Ph.D. program with proficiency in a language other than English and/or in mathematics/statistics. Proficiency is indicated by completion of two courses at the upper-division level (numbered 300 and above or requiring junior standing) with at least a B average. Students who have not completed this requirement in the context of their undergraduate (or master's degree) studies must take courses to satisfy this requirement during their Ph.D. studies. Credits earned in satisfying this deficiency may not count toward the credits required for the Ph.D. degree. The language or mathematics/statistics proficiency requirement must be completed prior to the doctoral preliminary examinations on the students' fields of concentration.

Course of Study

Students in the Ph.D. degree program shall complete a minimum of 54 credits earned in graduate-only courses (see Appendix A for course descriptions) distributed as follows:

1. Forms of Reasoning (12 credits)
   Africol 700 Empirical Theory and Methods, 3 cr
   Africol 701 Empirical Theory and Methods, 3 cr
   Two of the following four courses:

   Africol 705, Normative Theory and Principles of Social Organization I

   Africol 706, Normative Theory and Principles of Social Organization II

   Africol 708, Critical Literary Theory in the History of Ideas I

   Africol 709, Critical Literary Theory in the History of Ideas II

2. Three Fields of Concentration (36 credits)
   All students must complete at least 12 credits (four courses) in each of three different fields of concentration. For sound disciplinary reasons, and in the context of the resources and expertise that are likely to be available to the Department at the outset of the program, coursework in the Department of Africology has been structured conceptually and empirically around two fields of concentration: Political Economy and Public Policy and Culture and Society: Africa and the African Diaspora. Students will take a third field of concentration outside of the Department. This Ph.D. structure is consistent with precedent established by doctoral programs at the University of California, Berkeley, Temple University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (see Appendix B for program descriptions).
   
   
   1. Political Economy and Public Policy (12 credits)
      This concentration scrutinizes varieties of political economies in which peoples of primary African origin and their descent participate, or have participated, and the impact of public policies on the form and substance of their participation. Local, national, and transnational political economies and public policies will be analyzed and discussed, through the use of a range of research methods and techniques. Within this concentration, students have options in the three categories listed below. Students will work with their advisors to select an array of courses appropriate to their particular interests. Relevant seminars and courses from political science, economics, sociology, history, geography, and urban planning, may be selected with the consent of the student's advisor.
      
      
      1. Theories of Political Economy and Public Policy
         Africol 712, Political Economy: Conceptual, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 714, Political Economy: Empirical, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 715, International Capital, Trade, and Economic Stability, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 733, Human Capital, Technology, and Wealth, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 755, Theories of Urban and Rural Development, 3 cr, G.
         Econ 974, Seminar: Economic Development and Growth, 3 cr, G.
         Pol Sci 751, Seminar in Public Policy Formation, 3 cr, G.
         Pol Sci 974, Seminar in Politics and Public Policy, 3 cr, G.
         
      2. Comparative Political Economy and Public Policy in Africa and the African Diaspora
         Africol 716, Capitalism, Development, and Underdevelopment in Africa, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 718, Government and Politics in Latin America and the Caribbean, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 727, Preindustrial Societies in the Information Age, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 756, Formal and Informal Markets in Africa and the Diaspora, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 812, Seminar in Global Black Wealth and Poverty: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         Africol 816, Seminar in Pan-Africanism: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         Africol 831, Seminar in Global Black Power and Powerlessness, 3 cr, G.
         Hist 833, Colloquium in Comparative Urban History, 3 cr, G.
         Sociol 790, Social Stratification, 3 cr, G.
         UrbPlng 885, Urbanization, Planning, and National Development Policies, 3 cr, G.
         
      3. Political Economy and Public Policy in the United States
         Africol 717, The Political Economy of the Urban Underclass, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 758, Black Urban and Rural Migration, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 760, Black Youth, Urbanization, and Change, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 770, Community Resources, Political Participation, and Local Empowerment, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 814, Seminar in African-American Entrepreneurship, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 815, Seminar in African-American Leadership and Public Policy, 3 cr, G.
         Econ 712, Urban Economic Theory, 3 cr, G.
         Econ 749, Urban Public Finance, 3 cr, G.
         Econ 939, Seminar: Urban Economics, 3 cr, G.
         Geog 934, Seminar: Urban Geography, 3 cr, G.
         Pol Sci 763, Public Bureaucracies and Organization Theory, 3 cr, G.
         Pol Sci 975, Seminar in Policy Analysis in States and Communities, 3 cr, G.
         UrbPlng 721, Applied Planning Methods, 3 cr, G.
         UrbPlng 762, Housing Markets and Public Policy, 3 cr, G.
         UrbPlng 781, Environmental Law and Policy, 3 cr, G.
         
   2. Culture and Society: Africa and African Diaspora (12 credits)
      
      The exchange, admixture, and fusion of cultural elements will be explored in depth. Research areas cover the disappearance and retention of African cultural elements in the Diaspora; forms of literary and artistic expression; convergence and divergence of institutional structures; religion and social development; as well as tradition and transgenerational memory in guiding conscious and unconscious behaviors, among others. Within this concentration, students have options in the three categories listed below Students will work with their advisors to select an array of courses appropriate to their particular interests. Relevant seminars and courses from history, geography, English, and foreign languages, and literature may be selected with the consent of the student's advisor.
      
      
      1. Comparative Sociocultural Theories
         Africol 726, Science, Ethics, and Opportunity, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 735, Memory and Tradition, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 736, Comparative Social Institutions, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 745, Psychology of Oppression, 3 cr, G.
         Sociol 770, Urban Sociology, 3 cr, G.
         Sociol 775, Social Change and Social Evolution, 3 cr, G.
         Sociol 927, Seminar in Sociology of Contemporary Institutions: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         
      2. Cultural and Social Foundations of Africa and the Diaspora
         Africol 729, African Cultures and Western Technologies, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 740, Healing Traditions in the African Diaspora, 3 cr, G.
         Africo 762, Child Development in Urban and Rural Areas, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 825, Seminar on Ancient Egyptian Science and Technology, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 828, Seminar on Major African-American Scientists and Inventors, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 834, Seminar on Slavery: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         Africol 835, Seminar on Extended Families in Black Societies, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 836, Seminar on Women in Africa and the Diaspora, 3 cr, G.
         Africol 837, Women and Informal Markets: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         Africol 855, Seminar on Ancient and Modern Cities of Africa, 3 cr, G.
         MAFLL 705, Seminar in Cultural Studies: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         
      3. Literary Genres in African Societies and the Americas
         Africol 750, Literature in American and African Societies: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         Africol 751, African-American Literary Theory and Criticism: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         Africol 752, Folklore in the African World: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         English 780, African-American Literature: (Subtitle), 3 cr, G.
         English 871, Seminar in African-American Literature, 3 cr, G.
         Hist 714, Oral History, 3 cr, G.
         
   3. Extra-departmental Concentration (12 credits)
      
      In consultation with their advisors, students will develop a concentration either in another department or in related courses across departmental boundaries that is consistent with their interests and goals.
3. Dissertation (6 credits)
   
   Comprehensive Written and Oral Examinations for Continuation in the Program

   After completion of 18 credits in the program, all students must take and pass comprehensive written and oral examinations in order to continue in the program. Normally, the 12 credits in Forms of Reasoning and 6 credits in a student's fields of concentration will comprise these 18 credits. The examinations will be based largely on the student's work in theory and methods as well as one area of concentration. Both the written and oral exams will be offered in fall and in spring. Students must pass the written exam to be eligible for the oral exam. Based on the results of these examinations, students will be recommended for advancement toward the Ph.D. or academic dismissal from the program.

   Preliminary Examinations on Fields of Concentration

   Upon the satisfactory completion of their coursework, students will write doctoral preliminary examinations in two of their three fields of concentration, which the students will select. Those who pass the preliminary examinations with a grade of at least B on each shall be allowed to prepare a dissertation proposal. Should a student fail one or both preliminary examinations, an opportunity to retake it/them in the next examination cycle will be given. Failure of a re-examination at this time will result in a recommendation to the Graduate School of the student's academic dismissal.

   Ph.D. Candidacy and Dissertation

   With the guidance of an adviser, a student who passes the Ph.D. Preliminary Examinations shall prepare a dissertation proposal, which must be approved by the student's Dissertation Committee. All Dissertation Committees shall be chaired by faculty members of the Department of Africology and shall consist of at least three members, one of whom may be from outside the Department. Approval of the dissertation proposal, which ordinarily should occur within two semesters after the student's Preliminary Examinations, advances the student to Ph.D. Candidacy, allowing him/her to proceed towards completion of the dissertation. Approval of the dissertation by the student's Dissertation Committee satisfies the final requirement for the Ph.D. degree.

   Timeline for Completion of the Ph.D.

   It is expected that students entering the program with a baccalaureate degree normally should complete their Ph.D. degree within six (6) years. However, because circumstances beyond a student's control may prevent completion of requirements according to this timeline, students will be granted a maximum of ten years to complete the degree.

3.4 Interrelationships with other Curricula

The proposed africology Ph.D. builds on the strength of the B.A. in africology at UWM, which incorporates recognition of the empirical value of epistemological intersections in scholarly inquiry and discourse. The Department's major encompasses sound cross-disciplinary collaboration; it requires students to take a course in logic from either the Department of Philosophy or the Department of Mathematical Sciences as well as a course in statistics, which may be taken from any one of various departments, including africology, economics, psychology, sociology, mathematics, and political science. Moreover, both options of the major allow students, with the approval of the Department of Africology's undergraduate adviser, to count appropriate upper division courses from other departments towards their major in africology. Experience drawn from intervening years has affirmed the soundness of this approach, as the Department's graduates have fared very well in graduate and professional schools in fields as varied as medicine, law, history, and social work.

In a similar fashion, the Department has crafted a curriculum for the proposed Ph.D. program that taps well-established curricular strengths of UWM, both within the Department and within other campus units. The structure of the proposed Ph.D. in africology offers extensive opportunities for collaborative advanced instruction and research for both graduate students and faculty members. Two faculty members have served as directors of the University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity. Faculty members are deeply engaged with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Center for Women's Studies, and West African economic development and regional integration through the United Nations. These activities reflect the considerable experience and preparedness of the faculty in the sorts of scholarly activities that ground the academic integrity of any Ph.D. program. It cannot be overemphasized that the africology Ph.D. curriculum has been designed with the specific goal of drawing upon the full institutional weight of UWM for its graduate instruction. Those who leave the Department of Africology with Ph.D.s will be competitive with the very best graduates in any discipline in the social sciences or the humanities.

3.5 Accreditation Requirement

There is no accreditation requirement for a Ph.D. in africology.

3.6 Diversity

As a discipline grounded in a recognition of the need to broaden and deepen the range of diverse curricula offerings in the academy, africology is institutionally framed in the context of diversity. It is a goal of the africology Ph.D. program to draw graduate students from the full spectrum of American society, as well as internationally, with respect to socioeconomic class, cultural backgrounds, race, color, gender, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. To assure bona fide diversity, the Department each year will announce its request for new applicants in the journals and newsletters of institutional disciplines that preceded africology in the American academy, for example sociology, anthropology, English, etc. Also, in order to give the program the strongest start possible, Africology faculty members will attend fairs for graduating students at a number of carefully selected institutions to acquaint students with UWM's Ph.D. program in africology and to encourage them to apply. Faculty members in the Department know well, from personal experience, that this sort of face-to-face contact works well in generating a diverse pool of strong applicants who actually enroll in a given academic program. We expect also that some UWM programs, such as English, political science, and psychology, will provide students for the Ph.D. in africology. Moreover, a new study indicates that there are 21 africology-related mater's programs and 158 baccalaureate programs in the United states. There are at least 311 black studies programs in the nation. Of these programs, 83% have names that connect with the African Diaspora. The study also reported that the faculty members of the founding generation of scholars in black studies are retiring or about to retire, so there will be a 20 to 30 percent turnover in africology faculty members in the next ten years. "So Ph.D. programs are gearing up to train people ... and the people who will fill those positions will be the first generation to be trained in black studies" (Diversity, "New Study Forewarns of Major Turnover in Black Studies Programs," May 26, 2007).

Programs in black studies are found in Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and North Carolina, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The programs are at historically white and historically black universities and colleges. The Department of Africology will seek students from programs whose curricula are most relevant to our focus and, of course, will support racial, ethnic, and gender diversity among its applicants.

Additionally, as a member of the Center for Institutional Cooperation (hereinafter CIC), UWM's Graduate School acts to broaden the scope of diversity concerning incoming students. The remarkably successful Advanced Opportunities Program (hereinafter AOP), by providing financial support, for more than a generation has furthered opportunities for graduate education for individuals from minority and disadvantaged groups who otherwise never would have had that option. A member of the Department's faculty served on the AOP Committee for more than a decade and knows first-hand the high level of success -- in excess of 80 percent -- that the program has had in regard to the graduate students whom it has supported. It is noteworthy that these students have entered the professoriate, gone on to teach in public schools, and pursued careers in the private sector. The Department of Africology expects to attract graduate students who are supported with both traditional Graduate School fellowships as well as AOP fellowships.

The Department intends to make extensive use of the Internet in announcing its Ph.D. program both nationally and internationally, and encouraging interested students from around the country and abroad to enroll at UWM. Internet cafes have become very common in most countries of the world, including those in Africa, making it possible for students from almost anywhere to learn about and apply to the program. Because the power of the Internet to affect behavior increases exponentially year by year, the Department of Africology, by employing this tool, anticipates considerable success in reaching a pool of potential applicants sufficiently large to ensure its ability to admit a diverse student body.

Finally, the Department of Africology has a strong track record of incorporating in its curriculum instructional material that encompasses a diverse range of perspectives. From its graduate/undergraduate course on Sex, Marriage, and Healthcare in the Afroworld to the literatures of James Baldwin and Zora Neale Hurston to the political philosophies of Plato and Saint Augustine of Hippo and in its recruitment and retention of faculty and staff, the Department brings a truly diverse knowledge and personnel base to bear upon the subject matter of africology and, in doing so, displays the empirical reality of diversity at its very best.

Concerning the matter of racial, gender, and ethnic diversity, the tenure track faculty consists of five females and five males, nine of African descent and one white female. The full-time program assistant is a white male. The Department of Africology is dedicated to maintaining a diverse faculty and staff with regard to race, gender, and ethnicity. The Department will make every effort to ensure that the recruitment process for new faculty and staff members as well as graduate students will generate a diverse pool. To this end, as we seek to recruit new faculty members, we will advertise in a variety of venues and also contact top universities and colleges with graduate departments in the field. Additionally, our faculty members will call colleagues at other schools in order to identify promising new graduates in africological fields. We also will contact African American affiliates of organizations such as the Black Economic Committee of the American Economics Association and the Black Sociologists Committee of the American Sociological Association. Moreoever, we will contact associations such as the Black Studies Association, African American Studies Association, and the Study of Afro-American Life and History Association. Many of these associations have their own websites where faculty positions are advertised. Also, ongoing efforts will be initiated to establish contact with accredited masters programs to inform them of the UWM program and financial aid options for students. We also will contact traditionally black colleges and universities to identify prospective students and collaborate to enhance the possibilities for future applications.

To support and retain our faculty members, we offer a reduced instructional course load in the years prior to the tenure review, encourage applications for fellowships and grants, and meet on a regular basis throughout the semester to discuss the faculty members' academic, teaching, and service concerns. We encourage them to seek out other scholars who are doing similar research by setting up meetings and conversations. We supply books to faculty members to increase their knowledge about research and publication procedures. We sometimes hold a welcome reception on campus to introduce new faculty members to the broader academic community. We hold a Friday seminar once a month for research and paper presentations.

To support and retain our graduate students, we will introduce them to other graduate students and faculty members outside the program who are pursuing similar research topics. We will sponsor gatherings as well as seminar and works-in-progress presentations. We will link with other programs, e.g., the UW System Institute on Race and Ethnicity, housed at UW-Milwaukee, which sponsors a Scholars-in-Residence program for dissertators. Students will receive TA- or other fellowships, as they become available through private donors, for financial aid.

3.7 Collaboration

The Department of Africology for some time has made collaboration with other programs at UWM a regular focus of its activities. As already mentioned (see section 3.4 above), faculty members are deeply engaged with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Center for Women's Studies. Relatively recently, the Departments of Africology and English have created a process whereby Ph.D. students in either department will have at their disposal the expertise of faculty members from both disciplines. Additionally, faculty members in the Department have worked with Department of Economics faculty members on substantial research, including Professor Abera Gelan's collaboration with Professor Mohsen Bahmani on several trans-national projects and Professors Bartholomew Armah's (Africology) and James Peoples' (Economics) cooperative study of leasing contracts and other issues focused on less-developed countries in Africa. One Africology faculty member has worked extensively with the UWM Cultures and Communities program. Others have developed a strong interest in fresh water, especially potable water, on the African continent, and they have approached a group of UWM faculty members and researchers and the Great Lakes WATER Institute who are developing a proposal for a School of Freshwater Sciences to explore possibilities for collaboration.

Collaboration has not been limited to the UWM campus. Two members of the Department's faculty have served as directors of the University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity. One faculty member has participated in drawing together an African-American youth research and training project involving the Milwaukee Public Schools, UWM's School of Education, and community groups. Collaboration with the International Center for Water Resources Management at Central State University in Ohio to address the critical issue of potable water in Africa is being pursued.

The chair of the Department of Africology met with the chair of the UW-Madison Department of Afro-American Studies in November, 2007. They agree that there are many opportunities for collaboration between the two programs. In particular, the master's degree at Madison, with its focus on culture, history, and society, would link well with the UW-Milwaukee Department of Africology's Ph.D. concentration in "Culture and Society: Africa and African Dispora." It was agreed that the discussions will continue in order to facilitate students completing UW-Madison courses that would be transferable toward the Ph.D. in Africology at UW-Milwaukee.

3.8 Outreach

The Department of Africology was instrumental in the establishment of the Community Brainstorming conference, which today is the premier monthly forum for discussion of community issues. About 20 years ago, Dr. Doreatha Mbalia and Dr. Ahmed Mbalia organized Watoto Uhuru Shule, a free weekend school for community children focusing on African history and culture for youths 2-18 years of age, and it continues to the present. Some of the children involved have since graduated from college and now are teachers themselves! Dr. Mensah Aborampah works with ASHA Family Service and serves on its Board of Directors. Dr. Joyce Kirk is the principal investigator for a Bader Grant with America's Black Holocaust Museum to study the feasibility of a Center for Holocaust Studies linked to UW-Milwaukee. Dr. Sandra Jones has been the UWM representative to the Milwaukee Social Development Commission (SDC) Board of Commissioners since 2005. She was elected vice-president of the SDC Board in March 2006 and has served as chairperson of the Public Policy Committee of the SDC since January 2006. Thus, she is a major leader in the SDC in Milwaukee as that organization seeks to serve a large constituency in the struggle against poverty.

Given the large African-American student-presence in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), and given the ever expanding interest in the subject matter of africology, the Department intends to frame and implement graduate-level seminars and workshops that will be of value to MPS teachers in their daily activities. The Department currently offers upper division courses entitled The Black Family, The School in African-American Life, and The Church in African-American Life. The church and the family have been the two critical institutions that sustained blacks over the nearly twelve generations of chattel slavery, with the school rounding out the triad over the almost five generations of de jure Jim Crow after the Civil War. This combination of courses provides valuable insight for teachers and others into issues that continue to confront African-American students and mechanisms that the family and community have used to support them as they deal with these issues. With the Ph.D. program in place, the Department will be able to enhance the substance of these courses, making them even more attractive and relevant to MPS teachers, to the benefit of students throughout the system.

In order to provide the highest quality graduate instruction possible, it is critically important that the faculty avoids trying to do too many things, which would influence negatively all of those activities. Therefore, the first years of offering Ph.D. studies, the Department will be somewhat limited in the amount of outreach activity in which its faculty can engage. However, as the program takes hold, the Department increasingly will offer a range of seminars, short courses, and workshops that are open to the public and that make use of Department faculty members and advanced graduate students. The involvement of advanced graduate students in outreach activities will benefit the students and the Department as well as the various publics that will participate.

Many teachers wish to take graduate coursework toward a master's degree to improve their opportunities for advancement. The Department has an established collaborative history with the School of Education in supporting its master's degrees, particularly in community education. With the creation of new graduate-level coursework for the Ph.D. degree and the presence on campus of faculty members involved in cutting-edge graduate education and research, the range and quality of learning opportunities that the Department can provide for MPS teachers and the School of Education will expand dramatically.

Students in UWM graduate programs often need to complete a minor area of study and/or wish to enrich their programs of study with graduate courses from other departments. The Africology Department's graduate courses will be attractive particularly to graduate students in disciplines closely allied with africology, including (in addition to education) anthropology, sociology, women's studies, history, cultural geography, health sciences, urban studies, urban planning, and others.

3.9 Delivery Method

At this time, no distance education courses are planned. However, if future circumstances are such that online courses would benefit the program and its students, the Department will be very open to pursuing this option.

4. NEED

4.1 Comparable Programs in Wisconsin

Currently, there is no institution of higher education in Wisconsin offering a Ph.D. in africology. Students at UW-Madison can earn graduate degrees (M.A. and Ph.D.) in African Languages and Literature, a master's degree in Afro-American Studies, a Ph.D. minor in Afro-American Studies, and a Ph.D. minor in African Studies. The UWM Department of Africology has consulted with UW-Madison concerning a cooperative program as well as other possibilities for collaboration that will allow the latter to be used as a bridge to UWM's planned doctoral degree program in africology. No other UW System institutions offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in africology. Nor do any private institutions in Wisconsin offer undergraduate or graduate degrees in africology.

4.2 Comparable Programs Outside Wisconsin

The following seven U.S. universities offer a doctorate in africology or a closely-related field:

Temple University - Ph.D in African American Studies - Fall, 1987
      (also offers M.A. in African American Studies)
Yale University - Ph.D in African American Studies - Fall, 1993
      (this is a combined Ph.D. in conjunction with another department)
University of Massachusetts at Amherst - Ph.D in Afro-American Studies - Fall 1996
University of California, Berkeley - Ph.D in African Diaspora Studies - Fall, 1997
Harvard University - Ph.D in African American Studies - Fall, 2000
      (also offers M.A. in African and African American Studies)
Michigan State University - Ph.D in African American and African Studies - Fall, 2002
      (also offers M.A. in African American and African Studies)
Northwestern University - Ph.D in African-American Studies - Fall, 2006

These doctoral programs concentrate, for the most part, on historical, political, and literary inquiry pertaining to African-Americans and/or, in a few cases, the African Diaspora. (See Appendix B for program descriptions.) Two of the programs are located at institutions in the Midwest. Northwestern University's program, implemented a year ago, offers a Ph.D. in African American Studies. This program focuses primarily on the life experiences of African-Americans. Michigan State University offers both a master of arts and a Ph.D. in African American and African Studies. Despite the implied scope of this title, the loosely-defined structure of the Ph.D. program is such that a student's specialization might focus solely on African-American Studies. Additionally, the program requires just a single course in research methods. The proposed Ph.D. program at UWM is distinctive in relation to all of the extant ones in the universality of its scope, the substantial concentration on political economy and public policy, the emphasis placed on forms of reasoning, and pathways to a substantial use of quantitative methods and techniques. Accordingly, prospective students, whether they are quantitatively or qualitatively inclined (local, national, or international in domicile), should find UWM's proposed Ph.D. program to be attractive in the context of the most stringent requirements of the contemporary marketplace.

4.3 Regional, State and National Needs

The focus on studying American minority cultures in the context of their countries of origin is a relatively recent phenomenon in the American academy. UWM is a leader in this emerging paradigm, which is founded on the belief that a profound understanding of the cultures that contributed to the genesis of today's American minority cultures will provide the most comprehensive insight into their essence, thereby enhancing the likelihood of creating meaningful solutions to the problems facing these populations. UWM's proposed undergraduate major in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino studies and the Ph.D. in africology are among the first in the country to embrace this approach.

Departments and programs in africology need faculty and instructional staff who are educated and trained in africology. UWM's position as a major urban research institution serves to amplify the purpose and need for a Ph.D. program in africology. The degree will satisfy a critical need for africological instruction and research in the American academy and beyond, even as it enhances the distinctiveness and stature of UWM in the UW System, the academy, and internationally.

The need for this program is highlighted by a number of interconnected factors:

1. the demographic patterns of large cities (including Milwaukee) in the United States;
2. the congeries of problems, issues, and possibilities that attend those patterns;
3. the significance of Africans and their descent in relation to extant demographic patterns, as well as the form, structure, and function of the culture and political economy of American society;
4. the globalization of cultures and political economies, especially those of cities;
5. the singular and global preeminence of the American nation, and the importance of this vis-à-vis Africans and their descent who are striving to become full beneficiaries of the advantages afforded by a mature technological society such as the U.S.; and
6. the Strategic Plan of UWM which seeks to "[e]nrich the learning experiences of ... students [by steeping them in] paradigm[s] of discovery ... that [e]xpand UWM's urban mission, [as well as] reinforce the university's commitment to enhancing the quality of life and economic base of the Milwaukee metropolitan area and the State of Wisconsin" (pp. 6-7).

A Ph.D. program in africology meets simultaneously a global and local need. Globally, it adds to the pool of expertise that can be tapped to tackle a variety of problems, issues, and possibilities pertaining to Africans and their descent. Locally, it opens up new paths for linkages between the university and the Milwaukee metropolitan area. UWM is positioned ideally to educate at the highest level the next generation of leaders, educators, businesspersons, and professionals who seek to become steeped in the subject matter of africology. This is exactly what is envisioned by the institution's Strategic Plan.

Finally, unlike most of the disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities, there is no doctoral saturation, much less super saturation, in africology. The scholarly integrity and reputation of UWM's africology Ph.D. will ensure that recipients of the Ph.D. degree will find an array of employment opportunities in africology departments and programs as well as in interdisciplinary studies programs where the subject matter of africology is an essential element.

Between the years 1995 and 2000, job market opportunities for degree recipients in africology totaled over 800, at a time when only Temple University and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst were graduating students. Two of the now-seven programs are too new to have graduated any students, and it is estimated that the remaining five programs have a combined total of about 169 graduates since 1989, with 125 of those from Temple. The Department conducted a survey of job listings for the past five years (2001-07) in all issues of the Chronicle of Higher Education and an available, substantial sample of Black Issues in Higher Education (the name of the publication changed to Diverse in 2005). The survey focused primarily on academic jobs/faculty positions related to africology, but it also included a more sporadic sample of high-level administrative positions relevant to applicants with a Ph.D. in africology. A cursory comparison of the positions listed in these two publications suggested that there was little if any duplication in the listings, and this is as expected because few departments would choose to advertise in both journals.

A total of 1,090 different relevant job listings were found in the Chronicle of Higher Education "Careers" section. Of these, 717 specifically required expertise in an africology-related discipline or research field. Another 354 listings specifically mentioned an africology-related topic as one of several desired options appropriate to the position. The remaining listings (17) were for administrative positions, but because such positions were included only sporadically, opportunities in administration are vastly underrepresented in this sample.

A total of 241 relevant listings were found in the less complete survey of Black Issues in Higher Education/Diverse. Of these, 162 specifically required expertise in an africology-related discipline or research field. Another 39 listings specifically mentioned an africology-related topic as one of several desired options appropriate to the position. The remaining (40) listings were for administrative positions, which again were counted only sporadically in this initial survey. A more directed survey of just three issues of this publication found seven advertisements for administrative jobs at historically Black colleges and universities.

A survey of africology M.A. programs (including UW-Madison, UCLA, SUNY-Albany, Ohio State University, Boston University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) conducted in the summer of 2005 revealed a healthy job market. Graduates of these programs found work in both the private and public sectors, working as teachers, for nongovernmental organizations, and in government service.

It is anticipated that the majority of graduates of UWM's africology Ph.D. program will pursue academic careers in research and teaching, including at community colleges. A strong Ph.D. program in africology should make UWM a magnet for other employers-especially from the Milwaukee metropolitan area and the State of Wisconsin, but also nationally and globally-seeking well-educated and highly trained individuals whose knowledge of the subject matter of africology positions them to add significantly to the productivity of the businesses and institutions that engage their expertise.

4.4 Student Demand - Future Enrollment

Ever since the entitlement to plan a Ph.D. program was approved by the Graduate Faculty Council, the Department of Africology has had a continuous stream of interest in the program flowing from individuals here in Milwaukee, most especially from teachers in the Milwaukee Public School System (hereinafter MPS), as well as from persons elsewhere around the country and abroad. The Department has received expressions of interest in the doctoral program not only from individuals in the Milwaukee metropolitan area but also from England, the Netherlands, South Korea, Nigeria, and Ghana, among other places. The program no doubt will draw a strong pool of international, national, and local applicants in the discipline, as well as from other social science and humanities disciplines with concentrations on the life histories and cultures of peoples of primary African descent (e.g. African/African-American literature and history, anthropology, political science, psychology, sociology). It is expected that students will matriculate to the Ph.D. program from existing B.A. programs, as well as from the nearly forty national M.A. programs in africology.

The program intends to admit five students in its first year (fully funding each of them), and five students in each of the succeeding four years. It is expected that 80% of the students will pass their comprehensive written and oral exams, moving on to the second year of the program and that 90% of those students will pass their preliminary exams.

Year	Implementation year	2nd year	3rd year	4th year	5th year
New	5	5	5	5	5
Continuing	0	4	8	12	16
Total Enrollment	5	9	13	17	21
Graduating students	0	0	0	0	2

It should be noted that UWM has a well-established tradition of accommodating part-time students. Accordingly, this program will work with individuals, especially in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, who desire to obtain the Ph.D. degree but who are employed full time, to create a study plan that accommodates their other commitments.

4.5 Collaborative or Alternative Program Exploration

Currently, there are no opportunities to offer alternative programs nor is it possible to develop the Ph.D. in collaboration with other institutions. UW-Madison's Department of Afro-American Studies has indicated that it is not interested, at this time, in developing a Ph.D. program. The Department of Africology, however, has conceptualized its Ph.D. program with the collaboration of at least seven other academic programs at UWM in mind, among them English, Sociology, and Political Science. The Africology Department recognizes that collaborative work is essential in building a sound doctoral program that attracts high-achieving students and highly qualified faculty members and provides exemplary education and training to enable its graduates to serve the local and global communities in a variety of ways.

5. ASSESSMENT AND ADVISING

5.1 Assessment:

It will be a minimum of five years before the program has any graduates and, perhaps, ten years before there are graduates in sufficiently large numbers to do comprehensive assessment. Nonetheless, assessment will be built into the program from the outset. The Department will assess both the program goals and the student learning outcomes. The Director of Graduate Studies will coordinate a subcommittee of the department that will collect data as indicated below and will review those data on a biennial basis to determine if the program is meeting its goals and the students are achieving the learning outcomes. The subcommittee will report its findings to the Department faculty along with any recommendations for changing requirements, procedures, or assessment methods.

5.1.1 Program Evaluation

Several methods will be used to assess and evaluate the program.

1. Monitoring admissions to the program
   Procedures will be established to track the number of inquiries about and applications and admissions to the program.
2. Tracking graduation rates and length of time to degree
   The Department will keep records on the rate of completion by enrolled students and the amount of time it takes students to complete the degree.
3. Student assessment
   All students who complete the program will be asked to submit to the Department a confidential evaluation of the features of the program
4. Peer assessment
   In accordance with UW System established timetable of graduate program evaluations, the program will be evaluated five years after it is launched. As a part of that evaluation, the Department will provide data on the research publication and grant activity of its faculty members and students. Several key elements will be taken into account: the quality of work produced by the program's students and graduates, including print and on-line publications and presentations in public venues; grants; receipt of awards and honors; the students' achievement of their learning and professional goals; and the quality and diversity of the students attracted to the program.
5. Alumni Evaluation
   One year after completion of their degrees, graduates will be surveyed to evaluate the extent to which the program prepared them to meet the expectations of their current positions. An alumni directory and database will be created to track demographic and contact information, as well as job title, salary and the employers of all graduates. An alumni survey will be conducted at least once every five years to gather updated information and track publications, grant activities, and honors or awards received.
   
   

5.1.2 Evaluation of Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will identify, analyze, and apply appropriate forms of reasoning to historical and contemporary global, social, political, and economic issues.
   As part of their coursework in the forms of reasoning courses, students will be required to be involved in a community project. They will produce a proposal for resolving a social and/or economic problem related to the area of their community service. This proposal will be evaluated by a subcommittee composed of the instructors of the forms of reasoning courses to determine the extent to which the student has grasped the concepts addressed in these courses and has been able to apply them to a real-world problem. Based upon a review of the evaluations of student performance in this task over a period of years, the faculty will be able to determine if there are areas of the forms of reasoning courses that need more attention or if perhaps other instructional and evaluation methods might produce better results.
2. Students will formulate a thesis, collect and analyze data, and present a cogent argument in support of their interpretation of those data.
   Students will be required to write a dissertation that involves the formulation of a thesis, collection and analysis of data, interpretations of the data, and preparation of a statement of results as well as the development of recommendations for future research and/or practical actions related to the findings. The student's dissertation will be reviewed by the members of his/her dissertation committee, and the student will be required to defend his/her procedures and findings before that committee. The dissertation committee will make note of what students do well as well as any areas in which there appear to be weaknesses. By examining cumulative data about students' performances, the faculty will be able to identify any problems that seem to be systemic and can discuss ways to revise the curriculum and/or instructional methods to address those problems.
3. Students will evaluate the validity of other arguments in their fields of expertise.
   The Department will keep a portfolio of research papers that students write for their disciplinary courses. Biennially, the assessment subcommittee will review the sections of these research papers that discuss the work and arguments of others on the topics that are the focus of the students' papers. By reviewing papers written by all students, the members of the subcommittee will be able to determine if students have learned to present a cogent review of prior literature in the field, identify any weaknesses in the methodologies and/or results presented by those scholars, and compare his/her own methods and conclusion with earlier work. The subcommittee members will determine if weaknesses in students' abilities in this task are endemic and, if so, will recommend modifications to the program and/or instructional methods that will address those weaknesses.

5.2 Advising

The Department of Africology appreciates the importance advising plays throughout a student's matriculation. Because the Department is not offering a terminal master's degree, the role of advising becomes even more critical. It is imperative that students become aware, as early as possible, if they will not be able to succeed in the program. Requiring comprehensive written and oral exams after completion of 18 credits will allow students to determine early in their studies if they will be allowed to continue in the program. High quality, intrusive advising will provide students with the best possible guidance in preparing for those exams. For those students who do not pass the comprehensive exams, advisors will assist students in identifying possible master's degree programs, at UWM or elsewhere, for which their credits might apply. Accordingly, the Ph.D. program committee will assign each student an initial faculty advisor to assist the individual in making decisions about his/her program of study. This committee also will monitor the quality of advising.

As students work with faculty members during their first year of coursework, they will select their own major advisors and, in consultation with the major advisors, compose committees for the qualifying exercise and dissertation. The chair of each student's doctoral committee will be a member of the africology faculty. Not only will the Department of Africology actively advise students throughout their years in the program, but it also will prepare them for employment (for example, by maintaining a job registry with links to prospective employers) and help place each graduate in his/her initial job.

The following activities will aid in the placement of each student:

• the graduate coordinator and advisor will consult with individuals on funding and research opportunities.
• information on available faculty positions and post-doctoral opportunities will be forwarded to individuals periodically.
• the program will host "brown bag" sessions concerning job seeking, resume preparation, grant writing, and other career mentoring topics.

5.3 Access for Individuals with Disabilities

The UWM campus and the Department are committed to providing equal opportunities for all students and student employees. Students with disabilities will be referred to the UWM Student Accessibility Center (SAC) to create a personalized plan for accommodating their needs, and the department will conform to all university and professional guidelines for meeting those needs. SAC offers services to persons with visual, auditory, physical, medical, learning, or psychiatric disabilities. Its Computer and Assistive Technology (AT) Lab houses a variety of devices and resources to accommodate the needs of persons with disabilities, including those relating to computer access, communication/telecommunications, and environmental control. It also takes the lead in monitoring the university's web page standards, which promote website accessibility and utility.

The Department's physical space in Mitchell Hall conforms to all relevant legal requirements regarding access to administrative, classroom, and other areas on the part of persons with disabilities. Office space for students also will meet these guidelines, and the program will accommodate special needs of students pertaining to computers and related technology used for their teaching and research.

6. PERSONNEL

6.1 Faculty Members Participating in the Program

The Department currently has nine full-time and one part-time faculty member, including two full professors, four associate professors, and four assistant professors. The six tenured faculty members ensure the stability of the program, while the four assistant professors contribute fresh perspectives as well as experience with the most current paradigms in the discipline. (See Appendix C for curriculum vitae.)

Faculty Members and their Areas of Interest

Associate Professor Osei Mensah Aborampah
comparative analysis of social and cultural traditions of black peoples in the Americas and Africa; comparative analysis of the structures and functions of Black families in the Americas and Africa; women and development in African societies.

Associate Professor Bartholemew Armah (part-time)
theories and models of economic change, growth and development, trade, finance and the management of human and natural resources in Africa and the African Diaspora; effects of stabilization policies in Sub-Saharan Africa; trade liberalization, employment, and growth in African & U.S industries.

Professor Patrick Bellegarde-Smith
African religions of the Diaspora, Afro-Latin-American and Afro-Caribbean cultures and histories, as these are impacted by gender and sexuality; black filmography.

Assistant Professor Abera Gelan
political economy of inequality and discrimination; economic development; international economics; monetary theories and policies; effects of foreign direct investment and multinational activities in developing areas.

Assistant Professor Sandra E. Jones
African-American literature; African American literary theory and criticism; black feminist criticism; black women's literary history; literacy and slavery; multicultural education and cross-cultural literacy.

Associate Professor Joyce F. Kirk
African and African American history; rites of passage in black societies; South African historical studies; African traditional doctors and HIV/AIDS prevention in South Africa; black women in Africa and the United States.

Associate Professor Doreatha Mbalia
foundations of Afro-American literary thought and criticism; the individual and society in African-American, African and Caribbean literature; the formation, content, and social utility of symbolism mythology, folklore, aesthetics and the uses of language in the Afroworld; women's literature; biography of Kwame Nkrumah; African womanhood and Pan-African studies; developmental English, African womanism, John Edgar Wideman, Toni Morrison, developmental writing texts.

Professor Winston Van Horne
politics and political philosophy in the Afroworld; conceptual foundations of africology; chattel slavery and Jim Crow; the two faces of Booker T. Washington; relationship between ethnicity and public policy; the biological myth and social reality of race in the behavior of Homo sapiens sapiens; the concept of human decency.

Assistant Professor Anika Wilson
African and African-American folklore and folk life; women and health; rumors, orality, and popular culture; HIV/AIDS and media representation; folk and popular health care alternatives.

Assistant Professor Erin Winkler
effects of racism on individuals, communities, and society; racial identity development and well-being in children and adolescents, African- American families and communities; impact of gender, skin tone, and other demographic factors on racial identity; white privilege; qualitative research methods in africology; race and place (nationally and internationally).

Advisory Faculty

Students enrolled in the program may take graduate courses in other academic units. Graduate faculty members who teach relevant courses outside of africology may be considered advisory faculty, and may serve on the students' dissertation committees.

6.2 Additional Faculty Requirements

In 2005-2006, the Department recruited and filled two full-time faculty positions with individuals who focus on social-psychological and literary inquiry and, in 2007-2008, added a folklorist, a position crucial to its teaching and research goals. These positions were filled in anticipation of the doctoral program. The Department expects eventually to hire an additional full-time faculty member with expertise in political economy and public policy. The current size of the Department's faculty is commensurate with those of the departments at the seven africology Ph.D. institutions at the time those programs were approved.

6.3 Academic Staff

There is one full-time academic staff member in the Department. Dr. Ahmed Mbalia, whose areas of interest include communications, media, and historical inquiry, is expected to contribute to the Ph.D. program, both through teaching graduate courses in his area of expertise and participating on doctoral committees. The Department also has several part-time academic staff members who do a substantial amount of undergraduate instruction, which frees faculty time for the Ph.D. program. These individuals have experience in fields such as teaching, public service, and the justice system, and they bring valuable expertise to the Department's programs.

6.4 Classified Staff

Currently the Department has a 1.0 FTE staff member. An additional half-time clerical support staff member will be needed to help administer the new program.

7. ACADEMIC SUPPORT SERVICES

7.1 Library Resources

Graduate students in the africology Ph.D. program will have access to a multitude of relevant resources and holdings on the UWM campus, throughout the UW System, and in the local area. According to a report from the director of Libraries, the UWM library currently holds over 569,000 volumes relevant to the field of africology and has acquired approximately 30 percent of all English language monographs published in the field of africology. In addition to these volumes, the library also provides electronic and archival resources that can support graduate-level inquiry. For example, the library subscribes electronically to dozens of journals specific to the field of africology, as well as to a plethora of journals in related fields (e.g., anthropology, comparative literature, economics, history, Latin American studies, philosophy, psychology, sociology, etc.). The library maintains an electronic subscription to J-STOR, which alone holds over twenty journals specific to the field of africology.

The UWM library uses funding from the UWM Educational Technology Program to maintain a subscription to one of the major electronic databases in the field of africology: the Black Studies Center online or the Oxford African-American Studies Center online. In addition, the library subscribes to a number of relevant electronic databases, such as Black Drama, The African-American Biographical Database, and Ethnic Newswatch.

The UWM Archives also hold a number of collections relevant to graduate-level research in africology, including, but not limited to: Milwaukee Urban League records (1919-1979); Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), Milwaukee Chapter records (1963-1964); Milwaukee Citizens for Equal Opportunity records (1960-1966); WTMJ Newsreel archives (1950-1980); Father James Groppi papers; Lloyd A. Barbee papers; NAACP Milwaukee Branch records (1917-1989); Milwaukee United School Integration Committee records (1964-1966); and a number of oral history recordings of local community members and leaders.

Graduate students in the Ph.D. program in africology also will have access to materials from all libraries affiliated with the University of Wisconsin System through the Resource Sharing Agreement, which allows for on-line borrowing requests. In addition, students have access to the libraries of Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin through the Cooperative Access Program. Students also may obtain books and documents through ILLiad, UWM's Interlibrary Loan program. Working closely with the UWM Multicultural Studies Librarian, the assistant director for Collections of the UWM Libraries, and the UWM director of Libraries to assess the library resources necessary to support a Ph.D. program in africology, the Department of Africology has concluded that the library's current resources are sufficient.

7.2 Access to Student Services

Graduate students in africology will have access to the full range of student services already in place at UWM. The Department of Africology and the Graduate School will partner in assisting potential students in the admissions process. These units also will work together to attempt to secure funding for incoming graduate students, and the Department of Financial Aid is available to help graduate students obtain federal loans.

As discussed in sections 5.1 and 5.2 of this document, students will have access to academic and career advising through their faculty mentors in the Department of Africology, and students with disabilities will be supported through a number of resources on campus, including the Student Accessibility Center.

UWM has a number of existing research centers and institutes that can support graduate student learning and research, depending on each student's particular area of research in africology. The list of these centers and institutes includes, but is not limited to, the University of Wisconsin System Institute on Race and Ethnicity, Institute of World Affairs, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Center for Women's Studies, Institute on Multicultural Relations, UWS/UWM Great Lakes WATER Institute, Early Childhood Research Center, Center for Urban Initiatives and Research, Center for Architecture and Urban Planning Research, and the Center for Twenty-First Century Studies.

8.0 FACILITIES/EQUIPMENT

8.1 Capital Resources - Existing Facilities and Capital Equipment

The space needs of the new program will be accommodated within the current space at UWM. The campus and the college will reallocate the necessary space to accommodate new faculty members and graduate students. The Department has a designated, recently renovated and upgraded (information-enhanced), classroom in Mitchell Hall, which is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Courses that require media and information-technology are taught in this classroom. The collaborative nature of the proposed program opens to graduate students resources, facilities, and equipment that are not available in the Department. Capital equipment, especially computers and computer-related equipment, has been provided by the College of Letters and Science. All members of the faculty have Ethernet connections to a range of research and instructional-related systems.

8.2 Capital Budget Needs - Additional Facilities and Capital Equipment

No additional facilities or capital equipment are required.

8.3 Clinical Facilities

Not applicable.

8.4 Security

Virtually all learning resources on campus that students will use are housed in the Library and campus computer labs, which have attendants and security systems. However, the integrity of student work is fundamentally the responsibility of the Department's faculty and, as such, is but an extension of the academic and personal integrity of each individual faculty member. There is, at present, no institutionally sanctioned mechanism in any department whereby, absent a grievance by a student (for which there are extant institutional mechanisms) a professor's grade of an A may be reduced to a C or vice versa. And so, as a matter of empirical fact, the integrity and credibility of the degrees/credits awarded by any department at UWM is contingent on the academic integrity and strength of the faculty that it hires. In placing the institution's imprimatur on the proposed Ph.D. in africology, UWM vouches for the credibility of the degree in regard to the integrity of student work via the academic and personal integrity of the faculty with whom that work will be done. It must be noted here that it is the responsibility of the Graduate Faculty Committee to assure, through its constant review of all graduate programs, that the credibility of credits at, and degrees from, UWM never are compromised.

The Graduate Student and Faculty Handbook of UWM's Graduate School specifies policies and procedures that are designed to insure the integrity of student work and the credibility of the degrees/credits that the institution awards. Concerning student academic misconduct, for example, it calls out "Chapter UWS 14 and the UWM implementation provisions (faculty Document 1686)." It notes also that "[t]he Office of the Vice Chancellor has prepared a manual to assist faculty in implementing these requirements: Academic Misconduct: UW Milwaukee Guide for Instructors (copies are available from the Office of the Vice Chancellor). Questions regarding academic misconduct or correspondence required in implementation should be directed to the Graduate School's Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Services, who serves as the hearing officer for all graduate students. 'Appeals of the findings or sanctions of academic misconduct are heard by the Graduate School Scholastic Appeals Committee'."

9. FINANCE

9.1. Operating Budget Requirements

The Department recently added three new FTE lines, bringing its current faculty pool to 10 individuals, which compares favorably with other africology departments at the time their Ph.D. programs were approved. Temple, approved in 1987, had 7 FTEs; Berkeley had 10.5 FTEs when its Ph.D. was approved in 1997; and Harvard, in 2000, had 6 FTEs. Given the cross-disciplinary conceptualization of UWM's africology Ph.D., the array of courses in other departments that can be tapped programmatically by Ph.D. students in africology (see section 3.3 above), and the modest size of the program that is being proposed, there should be no undue burden on the faculty in other departments where africology graduate students elect to take courses, nor should the faculty in the Department of Africology find the implementation of the program to be burdensome. Except for hiring a half-time program assistant in the first year and, eventually, a faculty member with expertise in political economy and public policy, no significant outlay of new resources is required. The Department is requesting a modest increase in S&E funds ($2000) to cover costs associated with recruiting graduate students.

The first year of the program will be devoted to advertising the program and recruiting students for admission in the second year. It is estimated that this will involve a total of 1.5 FTE faculty effort. As discussed above (see Section 3.6), the program will be publicized widely, both locally and globally, through e-mail, brochures, colleagues at other institutions, conferences, the Internet (with a freshly upgraded Department web site), and other appropriate means. The budget is based on the assumption that the tenured faculty members will be responsible for these activities in the first two years. The Department also will hire a half-time classified staff member who will devote 30% of her/his time (0.15 FTE) to the doctoral program. Additionally, the Department is requesting a modest increase ($2000) in its S&E budget to cover costs associated with advertising and recruiting.

In the second year of the program, five individuals will be admitted and five faculty members (most likely the five tenured individuals) each will devote an additional 0.3 FTE of their time to the program. The department will sponsor four half-time teaching assistantships, the cost of which will be covered, in part, by salary monies from ad hoc lecturers who no longer will be needed. Beginning in the second year, the Department anticipates offering three graduate-only sections of courses each semester. This may entail reconfiguring the Department's usual array of semester course offerings to assign teaching assistants to sections of the undergraduate core course currently taught by faculty members.

It is expected that by the third year and thereafter each member of the faculty, including the non-tenured individuals, will devote approximately 0.30 of his/her time to the Ph.D. program. The Department plans to hire a faculty member in the area of political economy, a position that will be supported in part by an anticipated resignation of the current part-time faculty member. The standard teaching load for faculty in a Ph.D. department is two courses each semester. Given the recent hiring of three new faculty members, the anticipated hiring of one more, and the availability of teaching assistants, the Department should be able to absorb both the increased demands on faculty time for the Ph.D. program and the reduction in the number of course sections taught by faculty members. The reduction in faculty teaching can be phased in with the expansion of the program.

As a program of modest size, the Department is optimistic that all of its graduate students can be fully funded, a critical requisite for timely completion of the Ph.D. To this end, for the first two years of the program, the Department has a commitment of up to four half-time teaching assistantships (4 TAs) from the College of Letters and Science. In addition, the Department anticipates getting at least one Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (AOF). And it has a firm commitment from one private source to fund the stipend of one student for one biennium, providing that the institution covers the cost of tuition and healthcare. In the first year in which students are admitted to the program, the number of teaching assistantships offered will depend on the amount of AOF and other funds that the Department is able to secure to support its Ph.D. students. The budget includes funding for all four TAs in this year, so costs actually could be lower. By the next year, the Department expects to award all four of the assistantships.

Each TA will be assigned to teach two sections of introductory-level courses. By their second year, four TAs will teach a total of eight sections a semester. Advanced doctoral students will be able to take on teaching duties in more advanced undergraduate courses, thus compensating for the reduction in faculty teaching loads, and the availability of TAs will lead to a reduction in the need for ad hoc lecturers. The funds currently used for ad hoc lecturers will be used to support the TAs. As the presence of the Ph.D. program and its students is likely to attract more undergraduate students of color to the university, the Department may experience an increased demand for its undergraduate courses. It is expected that, as the program grows, additional TAships will be offered to absorb the increased demand.

The Department's goal of fully funding its graduate students should not be read to mean that it will reject students who are strong academically and are able to cover the cost of their studies through the use of their own resources.

9.2 Operating Budget Reallocation (See below.)

The reallocation of resources at research universities in the American academy is a given and a constant. But given its small size, the proposed Ph.D. program necessitates no significant immediate reallocation of resources at UWM. As is true of all programs at the institution, reallocations are made on the basis of campus priorities, programmatic need, and enrollments. As is required by UWM's Policies and Procedures, as well as long-standing traditions, future reallocations will be made in consultation with the relevant shared governance groups, with a vigilant eye regarding programmatic need, viability, and integrity.

9.3 Extramural Research Support

Africology is a twenty-first century institutional discipline, and it will flower even more as the century unfolds. As the Department's current senior faculty members, who energized and fortified the discipline at UWM, retire over the next five years, creating openings for younger faculty members with different strengths and interests, it is reasonable to expect that potential sources of extramural funds that are not now tapped will be mined extensively. This is not to say that africology will generate the sorts of funds that one can expect in the health sciences, agriculture, engineering, and the sciences. However, current U.N. projections are that over the next generation GDP (gross domestic product) across Africa should grow at approximately 8 percent. As the African continent recovers in the twenty-first century, as continued globalization draws the African Diaspora ever closer together, and, therefore, as the need for expertise pertaining Africa and its Diaspora increases exponentially over the century, the faculty in africology at UWM should be able to generate extramural funds in such areas as water resources and land use, demographic shifts, education and technology transfer, health care (especially concerning HIV/AIDS), development of new markets, and so on.

Also, there is an ominous cloud on the horizon that is likely to increase significantly the opportunities for africologists to secure extramural funding. Only 3 percent of all the water on the planet is fresh water, and just 9 percent of that water is in Africa. Given the severe stresses on potable water throughout the African continent and the relentless desertification of the African land mass as the planet warms in troublesome degrees, by the mid-twenty-first century the problem of water is likely to be much more dire than were the difficulties with oil at the century's outset. And so, the Department expects to work with the WATER Institute at UWM and the International Center for Water Resources Management at Central State University in Ohio to securing extramural resources for water-related research, especially in relation to Africa.

Some additional, more local, efforts may secure resources for the program. Over a generation ago, the Department opened a fund in UWM's Foundation for an endowed chair in africology. With a Ph.D. program in place, the Department expects new vigor to attend its pursuit of such a chair. The Department also plans to inaugurate the Friends of the Graduate Program in Africology as a means of sharing the substance of the program with very interested persons and also as a means for garnering potential resources.

 

Operating Budget Reallocation -- Africology Ph.D. Budget

 

Appendices

Appendix A -- Course Descriptions (pdf 85kb)

Appendix B -- Related Programs in the United States Program Descriptions (pdf 155kb

Appendix C -- Faculty Curriculum Vitae (pdf 439kb