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Pan-African Studies @ KSU

Welcome to Kent State University's Department of Pan-African Studies (DPAS). The Department is located in Oscar Ritchie Hall (ORH), an academic building named in honor of the first African-American Professor employed in the state of Ohio's system of Higher Education.

Oscar Ritchie Hall is the hub of academic life for African-Americans and other students at Kent State. ORH is student-friendly and student-centered, containing a modern computer lab with broadband Internet accessibility, a "Duka"; or concession stand run by the Black United Students organization; student lounges and meeting places; lecture halls, classrooms, the Uumbaji art gallery; the Center for Pan-African Culture; the African community theatre; the Institute for African-American Affairs; and faculty and staff offices.

All students are welcome in these spaces, whether or not they are majoring in Pan-African Studies. Come by and meet us. The DPAS Office staff will help you get more information about our programs, as well as help you to navigate the University system so that you get where you need to be quickly and efficiently. Ask our current and alumni students!

Our Mission

The Department of Pan-African Studies has a dual mission. Its academic mission is to offer a comprehensive, holistic, Afrocentric academic curriculum grounded in the knowledge base, cultural norms, traditions, and general experiences of the diverse groups of people of African descent, who are found on the continent of Africa and throughout the African Diaspora. The DPAS curriculum is multidisciplined and interdisciplinary. DPAS offers a major and minor that cuts across the humanities, fine arts, and social sciences. Also, the Department of Pan-African Studies provides support to the Liberal Education Requirement (General Education) Curriculum with faculty and its core courses.

Additionally, the Department supports and fosters cultural diversity and tolerance at the University and throughout its service area in northeast Ohio. It is a mission that embraces the philosophy of the corporate citizenship of societal institutions, of which Kent State University is a leader. As such, public institutions are obligated to participate in the lives of the general citizenry, aiding in the improvement of their human condition, so as to assist in the evolution and progress of society as a whole. The manifestation of the social side of Pan-African Studies programming can be seen in its African Community Theatre and Outreach Programs. The Department makes its expertise available to local and regional communities in their quest to find solutions to the many and varied problems with which they are confronted.