July 10, 2001
Dr. Roy Austin, associate professor of justice, sociology, and African American studies at Penn State has accepted the position as director of the University’s Africana Research Center. Austin will serve a two-year term beginning July 1. During 2002-03, Penn State will conduct a national search for a director. Dr. Cary Fraser, assistant professor of African and African American studies and history, will serve as associate director of the Center.
Austin received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Yale and a master’s and doctorate in sociology from the University of Washington in 1970 and 1973 respectively. He joined Penn State as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 1983. He has published extensively in sociology and criminal justice journals on juvenile delinquency, deviance, and race and the criminal justice system. His research also encompasses the sociology of the Caribbean. He served as director of the administration of justice program from 1994 to 1998. During his years at Penn State, he has served as advisor to the Black Caucus, the Black Graduate Student Association, and the Caribbean Students Association.
Fraser earned his bachelor’s at the University of Guyana, his M.Sc. from the University of the West Indies, and his doctorate from the University of Geneva (Switzerland) in 1990. He served as a program officer at the Social Science Research Council, a visiting fellow at the Center of International Studies, Princeton, and the Frederick Douglass Institute Fellow at the University of Rochester before joining Penn State in 1996. A specialist in the civil rights movement, the history of African Americans in the 20th century, and American foreign policy, Fraser has published a book, Ambivalent Anti-Colonialism, and several articles on American and British decolonialization policy. In 1999, he won a Ford Foundation grant for his conference on African Americans and the Age of American Expansion, 1898-1998.
The activities of the Africana Studies Research Center will be launched at the beginning of the fall semester. A center within the College of the Liberal Arts, it will have an advisory committee comprised of faculty and students drawn from across the University. The Center will encourage involvement of participants from many academic fields whose research includes issues related to Africans and African Americans. An implementation committee will be appointed to work with the director and associate director to develop activities and programs for the 2001-02 academic year and beyond.