Black Humanities Initiative: Embedding the Black Experience in the Humanities Curricula

FAIN: AA-295695-24

Iona University (New Rochelle, NY 10801-1830)
Nadine Barnett Cosby (Project Director: May 2023 to present)
Derese Kassa (Co Project Director: May 2023 to present)

A two-year project to expand a Black studies minor into a major.

Iona Black Humanities Initiative (IBHI) project aims to build out our existing Black Studies (BST) minor into a full major, and diversify the Humanities curricula university-wide. In Fall 2024 there will be a convening of eight faculty members collaborating to develop six new BST-designated courses. Upon Iona’s approval, the courses will go through NYSED approval process in Spring 2025. Seven faculty members will join the fall cohort in a two-week symposium during Summer 2025. They will revise their respective Humanities courses to integrate content from black studies. These will be slated for inclusion in Fall 2026. In the end, we aim to have a dedicated pool of faculty that will teach courses in Black Studies major and minor, and a critical mass of university -wide faculty that help embed and disseminate more diverse curricular content into the university humanities and core curricula. This will have a significant impact on program development, and the promotion of diversity at Iona.