By Neeraja S. Kumar
Four professors from historically Black colleges and universities have praised Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Visiting Professorship Program for offering them the opportunity and funding to research their research.
Professors participating in the program for the 2024-25 academic year — Asem Abdulahad and Carmen Luz Cosme Puntiel of Xavier University of Louisiana, Nicole D. Jenkins of Howard University and Coleman a. from Morgan State University – are halfway through their visiting professorships by the end of the fall semester.
The program was launched in 2023 by former FAS dean Claudine Gay as part of an effort to implement the third recommendation of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative — to “develop sustainable partnerships with HBCUs.”
Last month, FAS hosted a welcome event for professors at Lamont Library, where each visiting scholar presented their research and participated in a question-and-answer session.
Visiting professors are one of several University efforts to partner with HBCUs, as outlined in the Legacy of Slavery initiative recommendations. Du Bois Scholars summer program for undergraduates at HBCUs, the Executive Leadership Institute with Clark Atlanta University, and the HBCU Digital Library Trust.
Sara N. Bleich, vice president for special projects at Harvard University, who oversees The Legacy of Slavery initiative, said in an emailed statement to The Crimson that the visiting professors all “bring diverse personal experiences and expertise that advance their scholarship.”
One of the professors, Jordan, took a course at Harvard in the fall semester, and the other three spent the fall working on personal research projects.
Jordan, professor of architecture at Morgan State University, recently concluded his HAA 174P architecture course: “’I can’t breathe!’ Tracing the spatially stifled African diaspora in America. jordan said that during class his “students were excited to engage in conversation.” he added that teaching the course was like “serving at least some students who are looking for some information on the subject.”
jordan said his time at Harvard gave him the opportunity to “experience and explore” both his research and the newly designed HAA 174P, and he hopes to continue teaching at Morgan State.
Jenkins, a professor of sociology and criminology at Howard University, spent the fall semester on a research project “examining the experiences of black women around the world with natural hair.”
In an emailed statement to The Crimson, Jenkins wrote that Harvard’s financial and academic resources allowed him to take his project to new heights. Although she previously only used online data for her research, the program allowed her to “travel internationally and conduct in-person interviews” in places like Havana and Paris.
Cosme Puntiel, professor of Hispanic and Afro-Latin American and Caribbean studies at Xavier University in Louisiana, studies the stories of people of African descent in Latin America and the Caribbean. At Harvard, he said, he focused on his studies and called the campus “a very safe place.”
“It’s very peaceful,” said Cosme Puntiel, “and it’s really helped me find myself so I can give my best to my work.”
Cosme Puntiel added that he hopes his experience at Harvard will translate into future opportunities for his students and colleagues at Xavier, encouraging his students to “not be afraid of Harvard.”
“There is still some fear of the academy’s empire,” he said. “I’m trying to show them that it’s important that we occupy some spaces that have been denied to us for centuries.”
“It is important for the world to benefit from our perspective, our talents, our knowledge that is constantly being built from our experiences,” he said.
It is planned to continue the guest professorship program in the next academic year. In an email, Bleich wrote that the Legacy of Slavery initiative “looks forward to strengthening existing partnerships and co-developing new ones with HBCUs.”
“We welcome the intellectual exchange because visiting professors have expertise to share with our students and faculty,” Bleich said in an email. “They will also bring their Harvard experience back to their campuses and departments.”
