Such prominence will likely draw more concentrators as well as media attention, Harper said.

"The only other Afro-American Studies program with a comparable public profile to Harvard's has been Princeton's," said Harper.

But there is at least one other famous figure in Harvard's department: its chair, Gates. Both have had the opportunity to shape a program, and both are internationally renowned scholars in their own right.

"West, in my judgement, is much stronger in Afro-American studies in terms of the tradition than Gates is," says Asante.

Afro-American Studies faculty say they expect the two friends to cooperate well, however.

"Consensus will rule, as it does in other departments across the university," said Harper.

And with the addition of another faculty member, another goal for the growing department is closer to reality: Gates and Harper say the possibility of a graduate program is closer to reality.

Three years ago, the program was at its nadir and students protested for faculty appointments. At the time, when the department had only one tenured faculty member, West and two other scholars turned down offers of tenure.

Then, the program's fate turned for good with the arrival in 1991 of Du Bois Professor of the humanities Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Professor of Philosophy and Afro-American Studies K. Anthony Appiah.

Gates was promised a strong commitment to the program, and he got it: In addition to Appiah, newly appointed Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham and West, he will add four more professors to the Afro-American Studies faculty over the next few years.

He said the appointments will likely be in comparative literature, music, history and art, in addition to Higginbotham and West's expertise in religion and religious history.