Undergraduate Program Alumni
Alumni of the Undergraduate Program in the Department of African and African American Studies

Chimaobi Amutah

African Studies
Class of 2007

Chimaobi was featured on an MS-NBC news broadcast for his work in Mississippi.

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Tonia Branche

African American Studies with pre-med track
Class of 2010

As a rising senior concentrating in African American Studies and pursuing a pre-medical track, my focus within the department combines my interest in African American Studies with medicine and public health. For the past year, I have been working...

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Sangu Delle

African Studies with a Secondary Field in Economics
Class of 2010

My undergraduate academic experience has been an inter-disciplinary problem solving centered education, in which I did not acquire knowledge in the abstract, but learned with synthesis and practical application at the forefront. This originated...

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Christina Loreen Elmore

African Studies
Class of 2008

Christina will be pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting at American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco. When asked what AAAS meant to her, she responded, "It is a wonderful department with fabulous and accomplished faculty and...

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Oluwadara Johnson

African American Studies
Class of 2010

Since 2008, Oluwadara (Dara) Johnson has been working to improve educational opportunities for the underprivileged children in Nigeria via Project Unveil, a social enterprise that she founded, which uses performing arts to empower and educate...

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Jarell Lee

Sociology and African American Studies
Class of 2010

I am a senior from Cleveland, OH, pursuing a joint degree in Sociology and African American Studies. Currently, I am writing a senior thesis investigating the impact hip-hop had in influencing young Black men to support Barack Obama in the 2008...

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Elizabeth Nowak

African Studies with a Secondary Field in Chemistry
Class of 2010

I am a rising senior concentrating in African Studies with a secondary field in Chemistry. I am interested in issues of public health and medical anthropology, specifically how sciences and technologies are transferred to African countries. I am...

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Ayodeji Ogunnaike

African Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Class of 2010

I am a senior pursuing a joint-degree with African Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations interested in traditional African religions and languages. I am particularly fascinated by the lessons and knowledge that are often overlooked...

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José Guadalupe Olivarez

African American Studies
Class of 2010

Jose Olivarez is a senior hailing from Calumet City, Illinois, on the south east side of Chicago. He is currently working on his first collection of poetry. His poems have been published in Say What Magazine, Konch Magazine, and The Harvard Voice...

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Hamida Owusu

African Studies with a Secondary Field in Government
Class of 2010

I am a senior from Upstate New York, concentrating in African Studies with a secondary field in Government. My interests range from interfaith relations on the continent to the mobilization of vernacular languages as a method for encouraging and...

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Katherine Thompson

African Studies with a Secondary Field in Government
Class of 2010

I am a senior African Studies concentrator with a secondary field in Government; I am using the perspective of linguistic anthropology to study hiphop music in urban northern Nigeria. Specifically, I am interested in the micropolitics of language...

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D.A. Wallach

African Studies
Class of 2008

Upon graduating from the department, D.A. and his musical group, Chester French, signed a record deal with Interscope Records after being widely endorsed by artists including Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Jermaine Dupri. Since then, D.A. has...

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Tatiana Wilson

African Studies
Class of 2010

I am finishing up my final semester as an African Studies concentrator. My main interests lie in the creative arts, education, childhood development and religion. I had the opportunity to study in Mali with a musician and his dance troupe, as...

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