Please join the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Department on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 from 3-5 p.m. in the Ballroom of the UWM Student Union (2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.).

Recent UWM graduate County Executive David Crowley and UWM Chancellor Mark Mone will kick off our celebration. Dr. Mary Pattillo, a Milwaukee native, Chair of the Black Studies Department, and the Harold Washington Professor of Sociology at Northwestern University will give a keynote speech. Dr. Pattillo will discuss the reality of Black Studies in our current moment and what the future may hold. Following the keynote speech, a panel of AADS alumni will share perspectives on the impact of Black Studies courses in their professional careers. The Ko-Thi Dance Company will close the program with a performance. Current AADS students will display their research projects immediately after the program during the reception.

This celebratory event is free and open to the public. Refreshments and a cash bar will be available. No RSVP is necessary. If you have questions or need accommodations, please contact Lin Haggerty at mshgerty@uwm.edu.

Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Mary Pattillo, a Milwaukee native, is Chair of the Black Studies Department and the Harold Washington Professor of Sociology and Black Studies at Northwestern University. Her areas of research include race and inequality, housing, urban politics, education reform, criminal legal studies, and stratification within the Black community. She is the author of two award-winning books – Black Picket Fences: Privilege and Peril among the Black Middle Class (University of Chicago Press, 1999) and Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City (University of Chicago Press, 2007).