The Department of African American Studies at the University of WisconsinMadison offers students an opportunity to study those aspects of black history, culture, and society in ideal interdisciplinary models that reconstruct African American life. It challenges students to critically examine facts and issues that are historically and contemporaneously relevant to the African American experience. The department offers an undergraduate major and certificate. The MA program is based on personalized programs of study shaped to meet the needs of individual students, many of whom participate in the Bridge programs which enable them to move directly into PhD programs in English and History. Faculty members and students are active in a broad range of activities, including hip-hop programs for at-risk youth, community theater, college classes for low-income adults, and the Public History Project. The department prides itself on positive working relationships with our colleagues in other disciplines, including the other ethnic studies programs, the departments of Gender and Women's Studies, African Cultural Studies, English, History, Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies, and the School of Education. A vibrant community of scholars and students who believe in the ideal of unity without uniformity, we welcome all those committed to a deeper understanding of race and ethnicity in America and the world.