U. names new head of African Studies Ctr.

The longtime head of Penn's African Studies Center officially stepped down earlier this month, ending a 10-year term dedicated to educating students about African life and culture. Sandra Barnes resigned in September as the Center's director but stayed on since then in an interim capacity. The University responded to Barnes' departure this month by naming Sociology Professor Tukufu Zuberi as the Center's director. Until he takes over on July 1, Political Science Professor Tom Callaghy will be the Center's acting head. The African Studies Center is part of a four-school consortium that includes Penn and three smaller regional schools. According to its World Wide Web site, the Center "promotes interdisciplinary instruction and research" in Africa-related studies. Barnes, an Anthropology professor at the University, said she is ready to leave the Center, but is looking forward to returning to teaching next fall. "I've done this for 10 years and it's time -- 10 years is long enough," Barnes said. "The Center needs new and fresh ideas and a new vision." Currently on sabbatical, Barnes plans to continue research on her manuscript this semester, which provides a "historical reconstruction" of life in a West African region during the slave trade. Since she spearheaded several initiatives during her tenure, there is no doubt that Barnes is leaving a lot behind her. With Barnes at the helm, Penn's African Studies Center was the first of its kind to broadcast language lessons in area public schools -- an initiative that Barnes called a "great success." And in 1993, the African Studies program -- in cooperation with Bryn Mawr, Haverford and Swarthmore colleges -- received a $520,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, allowing the four-school consortium to establish an African Studies Undergraduate National Resources Center. Penn is one of 12 universities to have a federally-funded National Resource Center. In addition, the Center has a Web site that has been hailed by the Library of Congress as the "most comprehensive on-line source of information about Africa." Barnes' own commitment to African studies dates back almost 30 years to when she traveled to Sierra Leone as a Peace Corps volunteer in the mid-1960s. She said she "became so enthralled that [she] wanted to go to graduate school." She later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she studied Anthropology and African History. Callaghy, who is also the co-director of the Joseph H. Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies in the Wharton School, will be the Center's acting director this semester. "I hope to operate [the Center] at peak proficiency," Callaghy said. Callaghy is also one of 12 faculty members of the Center's Executive Committee -- a group comprised of professors who teach African Studies-related courses. While Zuberi could not be reached for comment yesterday, his colleagues said they have no doubt that he will be a successful replacement. "I think he can manage. He knows the challenges. He knows what's going on," said Ali Ali-Dinar, the Center's outreach coordinator. And according to Lynette Loose, the Center's program coordinator, Zuberi has "lots of ideas."