Company Profile
Black Studies
Company Overview
Black Studies at The University of Texas at Austin is a collective endeavor like no other Black Studies initiative in the country. With a history rooted in activism, the group draws its strength from four distinct yet aligned campus units – the African and African Diaspora Studies Department, the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis, and the Art Galleries at Black Studies. Through cutting-edge policy research, thought-provoking scholarship, and robust arts and cultural programming, Black Studies at UT is a premier research and education destination for students, faculty, visiting scholars, and the community at large. Compelling research, programming, and scholarly pursuits are happening every day in Black Studies at UT Austin.
Company History
Under the direction of Dr. Edmund T. Gordon, Founding Department Chair Emeritus, the African and African Diaspora Studies Department (AADS) was established in 2010, which, in 2014 would become the first program to grant Ph.D. degrees in Black Studies, in the U.S. South. Along with the Institute for Urban Policy Research and Analysis (IUPRA), the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies (WCAAAS), and the Art Galleries at Black Studies (AGBS), UT’s Black Studies suite—AADS, IUPRA, WCAAAS, AGBS—works at the cutting edge of socially engaged, activist-oriented scholarship, cultural production, and public policy research. We enjoy an interdisciplinary faculty whose research cuts across a range of intellectual currents, with particular strengths in black feminism, gender and sexuality, the black body, performance, art and art history, literary theory, black political thought, slavery, and surveillance, with geographical strengths in the U.S., Brazil, the Caribbean, Latin America, and South Africa.
Benefits
The University of Texas at Austin offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical insurance with prescription drug coverage, $40,000 in group term life (GTL) and $40,000 in accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) coverage at no cost to eligible employees. In addition, employees have the option to enroll in dental, vision, voluntary GTL, voluntary AD&D, flexible spending accounts and short/long-term disability.
Eligible employees also contribute to one of two mandatory retirement plans, accrue paid time off, and can elect to make contributions to voluntary retirement plans.
Certain academic graduate students and fellows are eligible to participate in the employee group health plan and voluntary retirement programs.