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LEAD-IN BY HOST KATHRYN BINOVI: The installment of a new director over the African American Studies program at the state's most diverse public university may be key to making a department in this field of study available in Houston. Renee Feltz reports... STORY: Last Thursday, Dr. James Conyers became the new director of African American Studies Program at the University of Houston. He brings with him experience as chair of the University of Nebraska's departmental unit of African American Studies, and a Doctoral degree in the discipline. UH student Anza [Becnel] is a member of a Pan-Afrikan student movement called Sankofa, that supports Conyers: "Sankofa, in tandem with groups as far back as 1965, is working very hard to see African-American studies being promoted from a program to a department. And this was probably the major reason that Dr. Conyers was recruited by Sankofa for the University of Houston." Sankofa is a word from the Akan language spoken in Ghana that translates to mean, "We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today." The student group shares many features with the movement that first established the program in 1968. Both the 1968 and the current movement include members from on and off campus, and have been described by the campus newspaper's reporters [especially one editorial] as making strong demands in their protests. "When you're looking at tactics, first you have to make out what you're trying to achieve. We're trying to achieve knowledge. And through that, we achieve power." UH also considered Rutgers University political science professor Kerry Haynie for the multi-disciplinary program's director position. Both Conyers and Haynie went through a hiring process that included being questioned by students. One of the reasons Conyers came out ahead was student's belief that he can provide strong leadership in establishing an African-American studies department. "It was never about Conyers just for Conyers. This whole movement has specifically been for an African-American studies department. We're in the fourth largest city in the nation, and it's a shame that we don't have one department that studies African-American studies as a department." For his part, Dr. Conyers has expressed interest in establishing a department: "If you've been a program for a long period of time, then if you develop the unit into having some substantive meaning in this environment, then the next level would be to advance to a department." Last year, roughly 45 hundred african American undergraduate and graduate students were enrolled at UH, totaling 13 percent of the total student population. Enrollment in classes offered by the program stood at over 3500, though not all these students were necessarily African American. Rashan Hughes is a junior biology major that has taken some African American Studies courses. Though she doesn't have a desire to major in the field, she finds the classes she's taken important to her overall studies: "Well I just took the classes. In high school you don't get that kind of exposure. You get your American History, but it breezes over civil rights, oh great. But as far as african-American studies, they don't do that. I think it's a great opportunity ... you take classes that you need for your major, but at the same time there's classes that you want to take that you can learn from. I try to take at least one African-American studies class per semester." Most of the students taking courses in the African American Studies program are pursuing majors in the college of liberal arts, but this is changing. Under the leadership of former director Linda Reed, the program changed its scholarship qualifications so that students in the math, science, and business colleges are now eligible to apply. Currently, it is not possible to receive a bachelor's degree in the field of African American studies in Houston. Courses available to students through UH's program can only count towards minors or as elective courses. Conyers notes that student interest in shaping the program drew him to accept the position offered by UH: "When you see that kind of enthusiasm and to see that type of inquiry, it's very stimulating and it's also very refreshing." While faculty and community critics hope that Conyers will be a stabilizing force for a program that cannot offer tenure to professors as an incentive to make long term committments, it may actually be the students who make the difference in maintaining the energy required to eventually achieve the goal of establishing an African-American studies department. Just as past directors for the program have had high rates of turnover, students also come and go as they graduate and move on. Even if Dr. Conyer's does prove to be a long term director, campus groups pushing for a department may focus on making recruitment of new students high on their agenda in order to keep the movement strong. Renee Feltz, KPFT News Houston [Brackets denote post-broadcast clarifications.] E-mail Renee Feltz at chickpea_@ziplip.com . This story was broadcast on August 30, 2002.