Chair appointed for new department

Dr. Jana Braziel, a professor of Africana Studies at the University of Cincinnati, has been appointed to join Miami University as Chair of the Department of Global and Intercultural Studies this fall.

The recommendation of Braziel for the position will be presented to the Board of Trustees at their meeting this week.

The upcoming term will be the inaugural semester for the new department that will incorporate the existing programs of American Studies, Asian/Asian American Studies, Black World Studies, International Studies, Latin American Studies and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, as well as a new Global and Intercultural Studies co-major.

According to LuMing Mao, the founding director of Asian/Asian American Studies at Miami and co-chair of the selection committee for the new department's chair, the committee started reviewing applications for the position in early April, but the conversation about reorganizing and restructuring these programs into one department has been going on for a number of years.

Along with Ming, Renee Baernstein, Professor of History and an Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, co-chaired an eight-person committee.

After the committee reviewed 42 applications for the position, they selected eight candidates to interview via Skype before narrowing down their search to three finalists whom they brought to campus.

"The three finalists were very strong," said Ming. "We were very excited about each and every one of them. They all did a fantastic job in terms of giving a public talk and meeting a wide number of faculty representing different constituents."

According to Ming, the committee was looking for someone who is a nationally and internationally recognized teacher-scholar in at least one of the areas that will be incorporated in the Global and Intercultural Studies Department.

"More importantly, we are looking for a leader who is deeply devoted to diversity, to global and intercultural studies, to innovative teaching methods, and to the promotion of engaged learning," said Ming.

Ultimately, said Ming, Braziel stood out because of her administrative experience as Director of the Taft Research Center and Associate Dean of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati.

"She has met all the things that we were looking for when we started the search," Ming said.

In addition to her position as a professor of Africana Studies, Braziel has also been an affiliate faculty member in English and Comparative Literature and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati.

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Her scholarly and educational interests include American hemispheric literatures and cultures, Caribbean studies, and Haitian studies. According to the University of Cincinnati's website, Braziel has authored four books, is finishing a fifth entitled "Make-Do-Capitalism" about urban environmental arts in Port-Au-Prince, and is currently working on two additional manuscripts.