Two professors have accepted offers from the Honors College to begin teaching courses in African studies next fall.

The Honors College search committee unanimously chose Andreanna Prichard and Daniel Mains out of 122 candidates to teach part of the new line that search chairman Richard Hamerla defined as the “politics of development.”

The original plan was to fill one position this semester and the other next semester, Hamerla said, but Prichard and Mains both proved to be what the college was looking for, so the Honors College extended an offer to each.

Prichard, visiting assistant professor from Northwestern University, said working in the Honors College is an opportunity that permits the sort of teaching and student interaction she was looking for.

“I came to [OU’s] campus for an interview and loved what I saw. The students, faculty and staff were fantastic, and the support for teaching and research was impressive,” »Pritchard said. She is excited to work toward building the new program.

Prichard said she plans to teach a survey of African history every other year and plans to teach a class called “Africa Through the Eyes of the West,” a class on the history of humanitarian aid in Africa and courses focusing on religion, gender and politics in Africa.

“The relationship between Africa and the West is characterized by great inequality, and I feel strongly that educating Americans about the history of this relationship is one ofthe best ways to initiate change,” Prichard said.

The small classes and student-professor interaction drew Mains to the Honors College. A faculty fellow in African-American studies and anthropology at Colby College in Maine, Mains said he chose to teach at OU for two reasons.

“One, it will be nice to be at a public university with diverse students in terms of perspective, class background and ethnicity,” Mains said. “And two, it’s a bigger university, which means more support for my research.”

Mains works in Ethiopia during the summer for a project titled “Poverty, Social Change, and Shifting Expectations: The Makings of Mental Health Disorders among Ethiopian Adolescents,” according to Emory University’s website.

Mains’ courses at OU will focus on globalization, economics, culture and international development in Africa

“I’m really excited about being able to expose more students to issues in Africa,” he said. “It’ll be great to at some point bring students to Ethiopia.”

Prichard also said she’d love to take students to Africa.

Choosing a new honors professor usually takes a while, but Hamerla said their last appointment meeting was one of the shortest they’ve ever had.

NEW FACULTY MEMBER BIOS

Andreanna Prichard

»Currently: Visiting assistant professor Northwestern University
»PhD: Northwestern University, African History, 2010
»Master’s: History, Northwestern University, Bachelor’s: History, Kenyon College
»Dissertation: ‘Mothers of the Nation’: African Evangelical Communities and the Rhetoric of Nation-Building in Tanzania, 1860-1960s

Daniel Mains

»Currently: Faculty Fellow, Dept. of Anthropology and African-American Studies, Colby College
»PhD: Emory University, Anthropology, 2006
»Master’s: Anthropology, Emory University, Bachelor’s: Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College
»Dissertation: ‘We Are Only Sitting and Waiting’: Aspirations, Unemployment, and Status among Urban Young Men in Jimma, Ethiopia