A renowned historian will join Northwestern’s African-American studies department in July 2004 with the goal of launching Illinois’ first graduate program in the field, university officials announced this week.
Darlene Clark Hine, considered a pioneer in the field of black women’s history, has worked as a professor at Michigan State University since 1987. Her hiring expands NU’s 32-year-old department to seven full-time faculty members.
Hine said she is looking forward to starting new initiatives with NU’s program and to moving back to the Chicago area, which is where she grew up.
“I think it would be a great opportunity to participate in the growth and development of the African-American studies department,” Hine said.
Michigan State is the only school in the Midwest that offers a doctoral program in African-American studies and Hine said she is confident she can help start a graduate program at NU within three years.
“It’s a very exciting moment and I am delighted to be part of what I think is going to make a tremendous difference in the way we perceive and appreciate African-American studies at NU and across the country,” Hine said. “(The graduate program) will be intellectually exciting, it is interdisciplinary, and it will be transnational and have a global perspective.”
Current NU faculty members pledged to welcome Hine aboard.
“Professor Hine is the foremost architect of the field of African-American women’s history,” said African-American studies Prof. Martha Biondi. “She is going to play a pivotal role in helping us build a graduate program, which is an important goal of the department.”
Hine is the co-author of the book “A Shining Thread of Hope,” considered the first comprehensive history of black women in the United States. She also was the editor of a two-volume historical encyclopedia of black women in the country. Hine’s expertise also extends to literary studies, gender studies, culture studies and sociology.
At NU, Hine said she hopes to develop courses focusing on the global black experience and introduce courses on black women’s history. She also plans to continue her research on the history of blacks in medical and legal professions.
Biondi said NU’s emphasis on hiring another African-American studies professor despite university-wide budget cuts is reflective of the department’s growing significance.
“I think the university is really recognizing that we deserve the support we are getting now,” Biondi said. “We have been recruiting top-notch faculty and we are extremely pleased with the university’s commitment to the department and its interest in making us a first-class department at NU.”
Biondi said the department might have been neglected in tough economic times in the past because of its small size, but she hopes the addition of Hine to the faculty will help the department accomplish some of its aims, like beginning the graduate program.
“The economic downturn is distressing and it stresses a lot of initiatives in NU,” Biondi said. “We are hoping we can persevere and weather the storm and meet our long-range plans of building up the department.”
