The Africana Studies Program is committed to student success. We provide our students with a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum that allows you to critically explore, analyze and interpret the experience of African Americans in particular, and other people of African descent in general.
Our mission is to prepare broadly educated, technologically proficient and highly productive citizens to obtain a meaningful career, to enjoy enriched lives and to make contributions to a culturally diverse society.
Improve your cultural sensitivity and your cultural intelligence.
Get an understanding of the African American experience in the United States and throughout the African Diaspora.
Our graduates have a great record of finding employment soon after graduation.
You’ll take courses with interdisciplinary and comparative perspectives. You’ll study the history, culture, social-economics and political realities of these communities. More specifically, you’ll gain insights about international connections relevant to these groups. You’ll also do research and community-based study to boost what you learn in the classroom.
Learn to differentiate between the concepts of racism, prejudice, and discrimination; and, understand how lives are situated in or impacted by these concepts.
The Africana Studies curriculum prepares students for a wide variety of occupational possibilities:
Management and Industry
Communication and Media
Education
Government/Politics
Non-Profit/Advocacy
Minnie Wittenbach’s generosity helped to build the Cheney Care Center where she had a private room. She remained active in the community and education, which were most important to her life.
It was her hope that this scholarship would offer worthy young people the means to gain an otherwise impossible education in the nursing program.
$1,500 for continuing EWU students in a health-related major with a minimum of 45 completed credits and 2.80 cumulative GPA.
A $2,000 award (renewable for one year with a 3.3 EWU cumulative GPA) is granted to an incoming freshman or transfer student with a 2.8 or higher GPA.
The Marjorie Boyd Wellington Academic Excellence Award was established by the African American Education Program in about 1988 in honor of the first African American graduate of Eastern. It is presented annually to the African American student with the highest grade point average and was established as an incentive to excel and a way to demonstrate Eastern’s commitment to academic excellence in the minority community. Mrs. Marjorie Boyd Wellington graduated in 1934 with a degree in teacher education from Eastern. Her story of success and perseverance as an educator has been a source of inspiration for students. *Award amount varies every year. For the 2018-2019 year, it was $1,810.
Apply for these scholarships using the general EWU Scholarship Application. To apply for other EWU and non-EWU scholarships, please visit the EWU Financial Aid website.
The deadline for scholarship applications is February 1st each year and must be postmarked by this date. Any faxed or late applications will not be accepted. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Africana Studies Program Front Desk at 509.359.2205 or aschwendiman@ewu.edu.
Scholarship recipients will be required to keep in contact with the Africana Studies Program to assist them with being successful at EWU. Once awarded a scholarship, the student will be contacted by the program director.
AAST 214
Okera Nsombi, PhD | Monday – Friday (11 – 11:50am)
Ethan Mendoza-Pena | Monday – Friday (10-10:50am)
Kerwin Harmon | Online
5 Credits
AAST 215
Okera Nsombi, PhD | Online
5 Credits
AAST 220
Scott Finnie, PhD | Monday – Friday (11 – 11:50am)
Cody Lonning, JD | Online
5 Credits
AAST 296 / HONS 130
Kerwin Harmon | Monday – Friday (12-12:50pm)
5 Credits
Satisfies: a BACR for social sciences.
This course introduces students to the mission and goals of EWU’s Honors Program while supporting advanced student success skills and critical thinking in academic content within the Social Science breadth area.
AAST 315
Scott Finnie, PhD | Online
5 Credits
Satisfies: University graduation requirement–global studies.
This course will examine the historical unfolding of Africa both domestically and internationally. The major topics will include such themes as traditional institutions, political development, European colonialism, African nationalism along with the struggle for independence and the entry into the global free market and world affairs.
AAST 214
Okera Nsombi, PhD | Monday – Friday (12- 12:50pm)
5 Credits
Pre-requisites: AAST 214, AAST 215 or AAST 220.
This course is the introductory survey of the theoretical foundations of Africana Studies. The focus is on the major issues involved in the study of the African Diaspora, both the objective issues being analyzed in the research literature and the subjective issues of how African descendants think about their experience. The goal then is to provide an opportunity to understand the issues and enter a discourse based on Black thought.
AAST 430 / GWSS 430
Gloria Baynes | Monday – Friday (11-11:50am)
5 Credits
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201.
This course examines historical writings by and about Black women, discussing slavery, lynching, combating prejudices and encouraging racial pride to provide a framework that will deepen understanding of the topic.
The Africana Studies Program at EWU is committed to student success. As such, Africana Studies provides students with a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum that allows students to critically explore, analyze and interpret the experience of African Americans in particular, and other people of African descent in general. The minor in Africana Studies helps to prepare EWU students to be broadly educated, articulate, critical thinkers ready to pursue meaningful careers as engaged citizens in a culturally diverse world. The Africana Studies program seeks to:
