The National Council for Black Studies (NCBS) has announced during its recent annual conference that Dr. Amilcar Shabazz, a University of Massachusetts (UMass) Amherst professor, has been named its next president.
Dr. Amilcar ShabazzAn expert on the political economy of social and cultural movements, public policy and education, Shabazz joined UMass Amherst in 2007 and teaches in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American studies. He previously served as department chair.
NCBS, Shabazz said, “operates as a big tent bringing together everyone who wishes to build the systematic study of the African World experience, as well as expand and strengthen academic units and community programs devoted to this endeavor. The National Council for Black Studies is committed to academic excellence, social responsibility and cultural grounding, and the sky’s the limit to what we will accomplish over the next 50 years.”
Shabazz has been a member of the NCBS national board since 2009 and was appointed its national secretary in 2012. In 2014, he received the NCBS’ Presidential Award in 2014, conferred at the council’s annual conference in Miami.
He also serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Black Studies and The Black Scholars — two of Africana studies’ oldest and most prominent journals, in addition to The Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, according to a UMass Amherst release.
Shabazz previously was a Fulbright Senior Specialist and has conducted research in countries such as Cuba, Ghana, Brazil and Japan. He received a bachelor’s degree in economics from The University of Texas at Austin, a master’s degree from Lamar University and a Ph.D. from the University of Houston.
