African American and Africana Studies Program Professors
Dr. Regina Oboler is pictured in the Ruby Yearbook in the year of 1989. Dr. Oboler was a professor of Ursinus College's Peoples of Africa Anthropology course, a previous elective of the African American and Africana Studies program. The course introduced students to the diversity of African cultures and focused on themes that distinguish Africa as a cultural area. Some topics addressed in the course were the history of human settlement; population migrations; social, political, and economic organizations; religion and belief systems; European colonization impacts and social change. Dr. Oboler worked in Gender and Women's Studies, International Relations, Environmental Studies, American Studies, African American and Africana Studies and Anthropology and Sociology, which she served as a department chair and program director for.
This image is one of the professors who taught African heritage and Africana areas of study at Ursinus in 1999, Dr. Nzadi Keita. She was teaching courses in this subject area before the program existed. Additionally, Dr. Keita was one of the few professors of color, particularly women professors of color at Ursinus. Dr. Keita is one of the college's prominent African American and Africana Studies professors today.
This eulogy commemorates Dr. McLennan who was an Associate Professor of Business and Economics at Ursinus College. She was a tenured professor at the college and received the Spencer Foundation Grant to study gender-specific education in the Philadelphia Public School system. In May 2005, she was the recipient of the Lindbak Award for excellence in teaching. She taught the first elective from the Business and Economics Department which was later included in the AAAS minor. Dr. McLenna taught the course before AAAS was a minor. Dr. Vangilder resumed teaching the course after Dr. McLennan in 2006-2007, working in collaboration with Ms. Ussery in the Anthropology Department who was the coordinator of the AAAS Department at the time. The 2005-2006 Ruby Yearbook is dedicated in loving memory of Dr. Michele Connell McLennan and this piece was included.
This photo depicts Maggie Ussery (bottom right) along with the rest of the Antropology and Sociology department published in the 2006 Ruby Yearbook. As the first coordinator of the African American and Africana Studies Program, Ms. ussery also taught SOC/WMS 264 Gender, Race and Work: a course investigating the intersection of race, class, gender, and work and their impact on women's experience in the United States. Ms. Ussery's final year of instruction was during the 2006-2007 academic year. This marks the final year for her as coordinator of the program. Currently, Dr. Nzadi Keita heads the department.
Dr. Xochitl Shuru has been a professor of Spanish in the Department of Foreign Language for two decades. Shuru received her doctorate from the University of New Mexico. Dr. Shuru is a tenured professor who teaches various levels of Spanish. Shuru teaches the Spanish capstone, SPAN-440W, which is an elective for the AAAS Minor.
Dr. Lynne Edwards is a Media and Communications professor at Ursinus College and distinguished Research Fellow with the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. She has extensive background in African American studies and recently just finished up a cyberbullying study examining how bullying online differs amongst nationalities and ethnic backgrounds. The results of the study showed her how different people of different cultural backgrounds react to bullying online and prompted her to dive deeper into the various familial structures and cultural values that affect the outcome of her results. According to the Ursinus College website, "Dr. Edwards is passionate about everything she does, from teaching courses that analyze the cultural impact of Facebook to encouraging students to present and publish their research about everything from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' to cyber-predation communication analysis. Whatever the topic, no matter the platform, Dr. E is all in!"
Dr. Patricia Lott (second to left top row) is pictured in the Ursinus College Ruby Yearbook of 2017. Dr. Lott is an Assistant Professor of American Studies, African American and Africana Studies, and English at Ursinus. Dr. Lott specializes in teaching Afrofuturism, Black Atlas, Death and the Black Subject, Issues in African American and Africana Studies and Race and the University. Currently, she is the professor of AAAS-200 (Issues in African American and Africana Studies), a four-credit, required course of the AAAS minor. The course is a discussion-oriented introductory seminar for the program. The course is constructed to examine African-American and Diasporic experiences and cover the history, roles, and contributions of various disciplines.
Dr. Jasmine Harris (middle) is pictured in the Ursinus College Ruby Yearbook of 2017. Dr. Harris is an Assistant Professor of African American and Africana Studies, Anthropology and Sociology. Dr. Harris specializes in teaching African American Experience, Contemporary Social Issues, Research Methods, Sex and Gender, and Race and Ethnic Relations. Currently, she is the professor of SOC-255 (Race and Ethnic Relations), a four-credit, elective course of the AAAS minor. The course inspects relations between racial and ethnic groups and the consequences of their positions.
Dr. Edward Onaci is an associate professor of History at Ursinus College and a professor for the African American Africana Studies program. He teaches an array of courses at Ursinus College which consists of African history, African American history, Modern United States History, 'Violence, technology, and terrorism in the United States', Social movements. 'Music, technology, and political empowerment', Activist women’s life writing and African American intellectual history. Dr. Onaci holds an intense interest in Africa and the African diaspora. Some of his research interests incorporate New Afrikan Independence Movement, The Republic of New Afrika, Gender and Feminist Theory, Cultural Geography, Citizenship and nationalism and Music and DJ technologies. Some of Dr. Onaci’s recent published works are “The Provisional Government of Republic of New Afrika.” Black Power Encyclopedia: From the “Black is Beautiful” to Urban Uprisings. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2018 and “Reparations.” Black Power Encyclopedia: From the “Black is Beautiful” to Urban Uprisings. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2018. His most recent conference presentation (October 2016) was held at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History 101st Annual Meeting, Richmond, VA. The presentation was titled “Territorial Nationalism, “Paper-citizens,” and The Republic of New Afrika.”
Dr. Florka is an associate professor of Philosophy at Ursinus College. He studies at the University of Chicago and finished his undergraduate at Berkeley. He went to graduate school at UCLA where he continued his studies in philosophy and earned his doctorate. His dissertation “Descartes’s Metaphysical Reasoning” was published by Routledge afterward doing a two-year Mellon Fellowship at Stanford. In 2000 he came to work for Ursinus College in the Philosophy and Religious Studies Department Dr. Florka teaches two AAAS courses one being Philosophy of Race at the College. The other course is taught as part of the Philadelphia Experience program, it is called Race and Ethnicity in Philadelphia.
Dr. Christain Rice earned his undergraduate at Ursinus College in 1998 as a Politics and German double major. Afterward, he attended the Harvard Divinity School, receiving both his masters and doctorate. He currently works at Ursinus College as an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion. He is an Assistant Dean for Civic Engagement and also the Director of the Harold C. Smith Program. He teaches the Peace and Social Justice Course which also counts towards the AAAS minor.