Why PAS?

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

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
*CSULA alumnus

Jesse Williams

Actor (Grey's Anatomy)

Bill Whitaker

Journalist (CBS Evening News)