The mission of the Major in African American Studies is to mentor intellectual leaders, develop emerging scholars and to train global citizens who are able to explore the world from diverse perspectives in an ever increasingly global and interdisciplinary world. As a community of international and interdisciplinary scholars, practitioners and community leaders the faculty aims to create and translate knowledge to meet global and societal needs. African American Studies majors are trained to emerge as intellectual leaders and global citizens in a variety of diverse areas of study such as history, culture, language, music, political systems and behaviors of peoples of African ancestry in the United States, the Caribbean, Africa and throughout the African Diaspora. Students will possess the ability to analyze and examine a variety of cultures, past and present, existing in the United States of America in particular and the African Diaspora in general as demonstrated by producing courses-related written essays, reports, written or spoken reflections and/or oral presentations in class and non-class-based settings.