
The African American and African Studies (AAAS) Transition Team is a group composed of faculty and staff who have been charged by Dean Christopher Long with facilitating this phase of development toward a new department of African American and African Studies at Michigan State University.
The departmental status for AAAS has been advocated and fought for by many generations of scholars and professionals on MSU’s campus, including faculty, students and staff. AAAS’s new department status has been a long time coming. The strength of this intergenerational advocacy continued throughout every wave of efforts needed to create the reality of this new AAAS department, which was formally announced on February 15th, 2019. This current AAAS transition team has been charged with aiding the continued development of the AAAS department by:
- conducting an inaugural chair search
- conducting a foundational tenured faculty search
- beginning curriculum revision/development for a PhD and major in the AAAS Department
Meet the Team

Tamara Butler, PhD
Faculty
This year, the Department of African American & African Studies at my graduate alma mater (THE Ohio State) turns 50. African American Studies classes fueled me as science-focused undergraduate at Xavier University of Louisiana. As a member of the transition team, I see growing the program into a department as a unique opportunity to thank and commemorate something that has been so filling and foundational to me.

Glenn Chambers, Jr., PhD
Faculty
As Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education (APUE) and most recent past director of the AAAS program, I am excited to be part of the African American and African Studies Core Transition Team as we transform the AAAS Program into a department. As a trained historian who studies immigration, migration, and its impact on racial and cultural identities throughout the Americas (particularly the Unites States, Central America, and the Caribbean) I know first-hand and appreciate the ways in which Black Studies as a discipline impacts our understanding of the broader world and informs our intellectual pursuits as scholars and community members.

Kristie Dotson, PhD (Interim Chair)
Faculty
A new AAAS department at Michigan State University is an exciting opportunity. I like to think I was raised to have a deep appreciation for Black Studies, given that I am third generation Black Studies major. My mother, my ma’s-ma and I were all Black Studies majors. So, it is exciting to be able to contribute to a field that has so profoundly impacted my life in countless beneficial ways. I look forward to contributing to the collective continuance of Black Studies in the future.

Yomaira Figueroa, PhD
Faculty
As Assistant Professor of Afro-Diaspora Studies in the department of English I am excited to be part of the African American and African Studies Core Transition Team as we transform the AAAS Program into a department with a focus on literature, histories, and feminisms, gender and sexuality. As a trained Ethnic Studies scholar who studies Afro-Latinx and African diasporic cultural productions and women of color feminisms I know first-hand how our intellectual and political commitments are likewise an opportunity to impact the institutions in which we work and our communities.

Joy Coates, PhD
Academic Specialist
As an Academic Specialist in the African American and African Studies Program (AAAS), I advise AAAS graduate students and minors, develop programming, and work with the Director to ensure successfully completion of our students. Additionally, I serve as the faculty leader for AAAS’ Research and Action in the New South Africa (RANSA) summer education abroad program. I am also a Core Faculty and Faculty Fellow in the Center for Gender and Global Context.