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AAS Alum Pursues Doctorate in Africology

The Department of Africology at UW-Milwaukee Admits
AAS Alum Crystal Edwards into its Doctoral Program

By AAS News Staff

AAS Alumn

This coming fall semester, Crystal Edwards, an alumna of the African American Studies program, will join the incoming class of students accepted into the new doctoral program in africology at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. The Department of Africology at UW-Milwaukee ranks among the nation’s most elite academic units for the Afrocentric study of African people.

In addition to receiving a teaching assistantship, Edwards will receive the distinguished Chancellor’s Graduate Student Award. The award allows UW-Milwaukee to attract and retain graduate students with exceptional academic records and high promise of future success. News of the achievement was met with applause and jubilation in AAS.

“We’re very proud of Crystal, as this is quite an extraordinary achievement. It is our understanding that this is the first time a University of Houston student has been admitted directly into a doctoral program in Africana Studies with only a bachelor’s degree,” said Malachi Crawford, assistant director of African American Studies (AAS).

As an undergraduate minor in AAS, Crystal Edwards excelled in her academic coursework, independent research projects, and community service initiatives. In addition to receiving the merit-based Kwame Nkrumah International Study Abroad Scholarship and Julius Thompson Memorial Book Scholarship, AAS awarded Ms. Edwards with its prestigious Sylvester Turner Academic Excellence Award. The Sylvester Turner scholarship is one of the most competitive scholarships offered by AAS, awarded in recognition of a student’s scholastic achievement and commitment to service.

In 2009, Edwards was one of six AAS students to represent the state of Malawi at the Eighth Annual Session of the National Model African Union conference. Additionally, the program is proud to acknowledge Edwards as a former member of its Ankh Maat Wedjau Honor Society. It was in this capacity that Edwards volunteered as a student mentor at KIPP Liberation College Preparatory Academy.

African American Studies congratulates Crystal Edwards on her recent achievement and looks forward to hearing more of her accomplishments as she advances in her doctoral coursework. One of a small group of students selected in this year’s cohort, Edwards plans to study political theory and praxis in the African Diaspora.