Off-campus learning is essential to the growth and intellectual development of a cosmopolitan student. This is also true for students who major and/or minor in Africana Studies at Rutgers-Newark. Since the hard-fought victory to establish this department more than 50 years ago – our mission has not changed. We teach our students about the complexities, nuances, and lived experiences of people in the African Diaspora through multidisciplinary scholarly engagement. This fund will help to support students who participate in internships, research projects, explorations of cultural institutions, conference presentations, and study abroad opportunities.
Our 21st-century students have already been witnesses to global events that have impacted Black lives everywhere. Our majors and minors, regardless of their economic circumstances, should have access to the educational opportunities provided by off-campus exploration. These off-campus experiences not only provide students with practical learning opportunities, but help them to think critically about the world around them and their roles as engaged citizens.
Your donation will provide funds to students to offset expenses incurred while participating in off-campus educational opportunities. Students may use funds for public transit to a nonprofit organization for an internship, to subsidize tickets to cultural institutions, to supplement their expenses for a semester at an African or Caribbean University, or help to fund their participation in the department’s faculty-led study abroad programs to Africa, the Caribbean or Europe.