“We’re about to double the number of concentrators overnight,” he says.

Students who in the past could only graduate with a certificate in African studies can now concentrate in the department’s African Studies track.

The highlight of Harvard’s African Studies program is its African Language program, which is under the direction of John M. Mugane. Eight languages—Bamana, Hausa, Igbo, Kikongo, Malagasi, Twi, Xhosa and Yoruba—now join Swahili in the collection of African languages Harvard offers.

Beyond the language program, Gates says the African side of the department needs to see growth elsewhere. He hopes to hire an anthropologist who deals with Africa, as well as African literature and music professors, to bolster the department.

STAR POWER

While Gates and others tout these new ways of attracting students, others say that the old method of relying on star power still has its draw.

“I think that people are galvanized, excited to take a seminar with a ‘Jamaica Kincaid,’” says Acting Department Chair Lawrence D. Bobo, referring to the renowned author who is a member of the department.

Bobo recalls the days when West taught Af-Am 10 as proof of what a star professor can do.

“[When] one of the most dynamic public intellectuals of the global stage offers a course, people are drawn to it,” he says. “I don’t think we’ll ever probably get back to the 4[00], 5[00], 600 enrollment courses Cornel West offered, but I would expect we will do better over the next couple of years.”

Chair of the Ethnic Studies Committee Werner Sollors, who is also a professor of African and African American Studies, sees a similar link between a course’s professor and its enrollment.

“I would expect you’d really have to find another charismatic speaker like Cornel in order to get these gigantic figures,” Sollors says. “But there might be somebody who is intriguing enough to draw half the students [Cornel did] and that would already be great.”

But in shifting its focus away from star professors and towards intellectuals who fly below the public radar, these enrollment numbers are perhaps gone for good.

“I don’t think the target [of professor searches] is to get the kind of charismatic lecturer who will draw the students,” Sollors says.

Bobo confirms there are no immediate plans to bring a high-profile professor to the department.

“There are not going to be any surprises opened at the end of this year,” he says. “But I think next year I would hope that we are more in the active search business. Exactly what those areas will be or who the people are, we’ll see how the faculty’s interests [are aligned] next year.”