Dr. David H. Jackson Jr., chair of Florida A&M University’s Department of History, Political Science, Public Administration, Geography and African American Studies has been named President of the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Inc.  for the 2013-2014 year.

“I am honored to be selected as the next president of the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Incorporated, a group that has focused on preserving and sharing information on the African-American experience for thirty-four years,” Jackson said.

“Professional associations like SCAASI continues to provide opportunities for faculty to publish research on topics related to African Americans and an avenue for intellectual exchange among scholars interested in African-American studies.”

Jackson said he also wants to create new systems of recruitment and retention during his term and expand on “scholarly opportunities for faculty throughout the country.”

SCASSI was started as a program in 1979 following a successful statewide Black History and Culture program at Texas Southern University.

The program originally was meant to bring together persons across the state of Texas who had interested in interpreting and recollecting black history and culture.

FAMU recently hosted the SCAASI 34th annual meeting in Tallahassee.

Professors from Tallahassee, California and New York participated in the conference along with FAMU faculty and students.

In addition incoming guests were given a tour of historic African-American sites in Tallahassee and were welcomed to FAMU’s campus with a reception at the FAMU Black Archives.