Dear Colleagues,

It is my pleasure to announce the launch of a Black Justice Studies Collaborative (BJSC). This collaborative, housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, will combine Black Studies and Justice Studies in many innovative and interdisciplinary ways; will harness the vast intellectual research and creative talents of Santa Clara University’s faculty on Black life and studies; and will mentor and promote student research, retention, and excellence. 

The integrated, transdisciplinary approach of the BJSC will set this program apart from conventional Black Studies programs. As a novel initiative, it will not only combine Black Studies and Justice Studies but seeks to incorporate new cross-disciplinary directions in Indigeneity, Race, and Law. The Collaborative will also support and catalyze the existing cadre of teaching scholars at SCU and strengthen the current Ethnic Studies curriculum and African American Studies minor. 

The BJSC will establish a robust speaker series, host conferences, and invite visiting scholars and artists who are leading intellectuals in their fields to campus. SCU scholars and visitors alike will challenge, inspire, and bring light to major issues confronting Black Studies and global Black communities through an intersectional perspective.  

 

Dr. Harry Odamtten has been appointed Director of the new BJSC initiative. An associate professor of Africa and the Atlantic World in the History Department, he holds a dual Ph.D. in African American and African Studies, and History from Michigan State University. He is recently a Carnegie African Diaspora Research Fellow at the University of Ghana, Legon, and currently serves as an executive board member of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD) as well as a founding editor of the prestigious Journal of West African History. He was the 2018 recipient of SCU’s Francisco Jiménez Inclusive Excellence Award and a nominee for the Louis and Dorina Brutocao Award for Teaching Excellence. 

As director, Dr. Odamtten is expected to steer the collaboration towards defining Black Justice Studies, fostering research partnerships between the faculty, formulating and directing research, and mentoring relationships between faculty and students on Black Justice Studies issues. In the future the BJSC is expected to offer courses that will give students an opportunity for certification in Black Justice Studies and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. 

If you are interested in getting involved with the Black Justice Studies Collaborative, please reach out to Professor Harry Odamtten at hodamtten@scu.edu.

 

Daniel Press
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences