For Beavers, teaching is a give-and-take

New Afro-American Studies chair says students are his top priority Students usually hesitate to call their professors at home or talk with them about subjects other than classwork. But those who have studied under English Professor Herman Beavers experience a very different relationship. "He is not the type of person who will let the title of professor get in the way of him being a human being," College senior Sean Coleman said of the newly appointed chairperson of the Afro-American Studies Program. Cluttered with snapshots of students, popular magazines, a frisbee and a comfortable couch, Beavers's office in Bennett Hall is indicative of his approachability. Although Beavers's students praise his ability to relate to them, many say his teaching and scholarship exemplify his firm commitment to academics. According to College senior Sylvie Volel, Beavers's classes are difficult because he expects a high level of effort from his students. But these high standards are just part of the Beavers experience. "He fosters true intellectual and analytic exchange among students," added Volel, who is also Beavers's research assistant. "He's very persistent on teaching you how to think." Beavers, who started writing poetry when he was 14, said he has always known that writing was his forte. But as a pre-law undergraduate, he had no intention of teaching in the future. When Beavers, who refers to his career in academia as an "accidental grace," realized that law school filled him with "dread and anxiety," he turned down a full law school scholarship and chose to study creative writing at Brown University instead. After receiving his doctorate from Yale University, Beavers joined the Penn faculty in 1989. "When you couple what Philadelphia is with the energy of Penn, it made it actually a pretty easy choice," he said of his decision to teach at the University. Beavers noted that he especially cherishes Philadelphia's commitment to African American culture, from the city's jazz scene to its open artistic community. Beavers, who received tenure last year, said his commitment to teaching primarily lies in his interaction with students. "I have students who are near and dear," he said. "I just talked to one of my former students last night well past midnight." Beavers added that he has had "some of the best conversations at Penn during my office hours." Recently, Beavers's scholarship has focused on issues of masculinity in African American literature and culture. He is writing a book on those issues entitled A Credit to His Race and an essay on Eddie Murphy. He added that some of his ideas, like those forming the piece on Murphy, come out of classroom dialogue with his students. In his work with the cross-disciplinary Afro-American Studies Program, he hopes to include more theory courses on film and television, along with a community service-related curriculum. "I've tried not to be closed-minded about what we do," Beavers said. "And I think it's important for students to have their input in what we're doing." He added that the 25th anniversary of Afro-American Studies at Penn, to be celebrated next semester, makes it especially exciting for him to be chairing the program now. "The reason why African American Studies came into being was as a way of discoursing with other disciplines that excluded us," Beavers said.