Courses: AAS102; Seminar: Violence in American Democracy
Q: What is your favorite thing about the spring?
A: The budding of the trees. I like to go to the gardens behind the Lawn [to see them].
Q: How long have you lived in Charlottesville, and where did you live previously?
A: In the past five years I've lived in three different places. I've lived in Cambridge, Mass., Norfolk, Va. and now Charlottesville, Virginia. I first moved to Charlottesville in May of 2001.
Q: What is your favorite sport, either to watch or play?
A: Football. I love to watch and play football.
Q: Who is your favorite team?
A: The Norfolk State University Spartans, my alma mater on the college level, and I no longer have a favorite pro team.
Q: Did you have any other jobs before you came to the University?
A: I was a graduate student at Virginia Union University, Harvard University and the College of William and Mary. Before that I worked as an underwriter at State Farm Insurance.
Q: What is your favorite thing about being a professor at the University?
A: Interacting with students. Teaching and learning from students, as well as pursuing different ideas. I really relish the life of the mind.
Q: If you could be a political leader from our past, who would you choose and why?
A: If I could be anyone in the past, a political leader, it would be W.E.B. DuBois. Why? Because he combined the life of the mind with political activism, and he did both extremely well.
Q: In your opinion, what needs to be done to overcome the diversity problem that the University currently is facing in light of recent activities?
A: I guess the first thing would to have people listen to one another, in all of their anger and all of their frustration, as well as in all of their hope. Secondly would be to create a more diverse faculty. Third would be to continue in the creation and construction of a more interdisciplinary curriculum in the College and make more linkages between the College and other schools at the University. I think that would be very beneficial. And fourth would be to enhance our ties with the public school system to ensure access to higher education. In light of our stringent budgetary climate, the broadest number of people have the widest access to our primer state colleges and Universities.
Q: What do you feel is the biggest problem facing the world today?
A: The biggest problem facing the world today is the deteriorating environment. That's the biggest problem, regardless of our international situation. I think the decline in the environment is the biggest problem because the earth will correct itself and the elimination of humanity may be that correction.
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