#  A Holiday Message from the Faculty Director  

 





December 19, 2024

 

 

- [ New Stories ](/news-categories/new-stories)
 
 

 

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We hope this holiday season brings you love and light, joy and rest. May the warmth of the new year find you healthy and nurturing meaningful connections, wherever this message finds you and wherever your travels may take you. Thank you for joining CAS in our mission to share knowledge and strengthen connections to realize peaceful, prosperous, sustainable, and inclusive African futures. We celebrate your commitment to curiosity, rigorous inquiry, and generosity. Please join us in 2025 with the launch of our 10th Anniversary - a series of events and opportunities for learning, reflection, and celebration!

With offices in Cambridge and Johannesburg, the Center for African Studies is where Harvard and Africa meet. What sets us apart from other Centers is that we serve all of Harvard - every unit and school is represented in our approach and in our networks - and we are resourced by stakeholders across the globe, enabling us to champion African voices, expertise, and agendas not only at Harvard, but globally. We seek to unlock three key vectors of change:

**Creating Knowledge**  
CAS represents all of Harvard’s undergraduate and professional schools. We have more than 100 faculty affiliates - **experts in African issues** across diverse fields, from STEM to the arts, from law to business leadership. We **support and amplify faculty research**, through accelerator grants, workshops, and public-facing events. And we provide an **Africa-focused intellectual hub** in the heart of Harvard square and in the region, virtually and physically through our Africa Office.

**Convening Learning Communities**  
CAS provides **mentorship and funding** to more than 40 undergraduate and graduate Africa-affiliated and Afro-diasporic student organizations. We sponsor more than 50 **transformative experiences** annually for Harvard students to serve, study, and intern across dozens of African countries.We mentor and train African **postdoctoral fellows.**

**Catalyzing Impact**  
We convene dozens of events, **seminars, and workshops** each year to amplify an **African-focused agenda** for Harvard and the world. We listen to leaders from Africa’s public and private sectors, from presidents, to grassroots activists, in order to shape an African Studies fit for the 21st Century - and we collaborate to transform cutting edge research into real-world impact. **Technology and innovation,** demographic change and the **youth dividend, climate solutions**, and **African leadership** are some of our newest focus areas, joining existing strengths in **arts** and cultural power, **STEM, health, education, religion** and **public life**, and **business and entrepreneurship**.

We are celebrating our **10th anniversary** in part by launching a new campaign called **The African Century**. This campaign recommits our energy and resources to strengthening Africa-related research and learning at Harvard and expanding its impact internationally. Our goal is to improve lives, catalyze change, and transform the world. We welcome your partnership in elevating African issues, voices, and solutions for the 21st Century.

Get involved by supporting our work financially, in kind, or through spreading the word. [**Read more her**e](/file_url/2408) if you’d like to know the numbers behind our impact, or [join us in your annual giving with a donation that can uplift knowledge and scientific advancement about Africa.](https://community.alumni.harvard.edu/give/62745644)



 

 

 



 

 

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