VISION
Fraser, among others. And, of
course, our programming is as
robust as ever.
Last year was incredibly busy,
and it was a great year. We’ve
all been looking forward to
2016 for even more to come.
!How did you initially become
I sat down with IRAAS
Director Samuel Kelton
Roberts, to discuss the future
of IRAAS and how IRAAS is
fulfilling its mission to
Envision, Engage, and
Transform.
!You’ve been the Director of
IRAAS for about a year.
Could you describe your first
year experience for our
readers?
My first year was more or less
what I’d expected and hoped
for. We continue to maintain
excellent undergraduate and
graduate programs, and the
students continue to impress.
Our very engaged and
dedicated faculty recently have
increased by two (Profs.
Robert Gooding-Williams and
Frank Guridy), so our course
offerings are all the stronger
and more robust. We were able
to attract some worldrenowned scholars to teach or
offer workshops in IRAAS:
Deidre Kelley, Danny Dawson,
Gina Dent, Rich Blint, Zinga
involved with IRAAS?
It naturally increased over the
years; when IRAAS was
founded, I was an undergrad
student at the University of
Virginia, double-majoring in
History and African-American
Studies. I’d read Manning
Marable’s work and was
deeply affected. I researched
and wrote three thesis projects.
One of them was a twentiethcentury politics, on urban
planning and race in
C h a r l o t t e s v i l l e , VA a n d
Manning’s work in black
politics and political history
were immensely useful.
!How
did your interest in
IRAAS evolve?
Around 1999 or 2000 I was
invited to give a talk at IRAAS
on my ongoing dissertation
work at Princeton. I remember
being incredibly energized by
the experience, feeling that
IRAAS was a space for the
serious but warm and friendly
discussio