One of UCSD’s most beloved teachers, Willie Claiborne Brown,
a professor emeritus of biology, was honored at the Third Annual
UCSD Black History Month Celebration. David Miller, acting senior
vice chancellor for Academic Affairs presented Brown with the “Award
for Outstanding Contributions to Higher Education” at the
Scholarship Brunch in February.
The scholarship event capped a slate of 40 Black History Month
events, a campus record for the annual observance.
The audience at the Faculty Club was delighted by Miller’s
surprise announcement that UCSD will establish an undergraduate
African-American minor studies program. And, in keeping with the
2005 Black History Month theme of “Powerful Voices: Celebrating
the Voices of the African Diaspora,” keynote speaker Bebe
Moore Campbell called for greater attention to Africa’s needs
and interests.
“African-Americans
must be global thinkers,” said Campbell, an award-winning
author, journalist and playwright. Campbell decried the “inherent
and pernicious racism that allows the world to turn its back on
Rwanda and Somalia while rushing to the aid of Bosnian and tsunami
victims.” And she added, “If we can support a land
that has lost 100,000 souls to a tsunami, we can support a land
that has lost
1 million souls to genocide.”
—Kate
Callen
|
