Pan African Studies (PAS) is a multidisciplinary program, offering majors a wide variety of career opportunities and specializations after graduation. Graduates earning a BA in Pan African Studies have gone directly into careers in the public and private sectors. Government positions can be obtained at national and local levels, as well as in the Foreign Service. In the private sector students have also found employment with any one of the hundreds of nongovernmental and community organizations doing work in the United States and abroad. These organizations range from community organizations to national and global human rights and civil rights organizations.
PAS graduate Latoya Burgess
Careers in which graduates holding BAs in Pan African Studies have excelled at include: teaching, education administration, public relations, journalism, the arts (TV, film, music, radio, fiction), social work, advertising, banking, human resources, communications, fundraising, community organizing, and program administration.
Many graduates with BAs in Pan African Studies go on to graduate school, where they find that their education in PAS prepares them for a range of graduate programs. Graduates in the field of Pan African Studies have gone on to graduate programs in the social sciences, the arts, humanities, public health, public administration, law, theology, journalism, and education.
Prominent individuals with degrees in Pan African, Africana, African, or African American Studies
Name |
Occupation |
Matee Ajavon | Guard for the Washington Mystics |
MK Asante | Author, filmmaker, and professor |
Christopher Asher | Director of Track & Field/Cross Country at CSULA |
Ayuko Babu | Founder - Pan African Film Festival *CSULA alumnus |
Tracy Chapman |
Singer & songwriter |
David Crane |
Former prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone |
Amanda Diva |
Rapper, actress & poet |
Nana Effah-Apenteng |
Former Permanent Representative of Ghana to the UN |
Jendayi Frazer |
Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs |
Mae Jamison |
Physician & astronaut (first African American woman to travel in space) |
William Kentridge |
Artist and animated filmmaker |
Thabo Mbeki |
Former President of South Africa |
Aaron McGruder |
Cartoonist (creator of The Boondocks) |
Ben Patrick |
Tight end for the Arizona Cardinals |
Otis Rolley |
Director of Planning for the City of Baltimore |
Jacob Slichter |
Drummer for the rock band Semisonic |
Sister Souljah |
Author & activist |
Akinyele Umoja, Ph.D. |
Professor and Chair of African American Studies at Georgia State University |
Jesse Williams |
Actor (Grey's Anatomy) |
Bill Whitaker |
Journalist (CBS Evening News) |