DAAS Transfer Credit Policy
Transfer Students
The Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS) at the University of Michigan enthusiastically welcomes transfer students into our major and minor degree programs. We look forward to working with you to evaluate and approve transfer credits from your previous college or university.
DAAS is a vibrant intellectual hub at the University of Michigan for the interdisciplinary study of Africa and its diaspora. Our core mission is to teach, inspire, enlighten, and challenge undergraduate students in this area of study. Our courses engage race, culture, and ethnicity as central contemporary and historical issues in the U.S. and the world. We offer a rich selection of opportunities for learning about the continent of Africa and people of African descent globally. We encourage independent and imaginative thinking in our students, preparing them to identify the contributions, as well as to confront the problems, of Africa and the African diasporic world. Students who take courses in our program come away with rich and varied understandings of African and African diasporic locations, experiences, and issues.
DAAS faculty members are dedicated to offering students a unique classroom environment where serious discussions occur, characterized by intensity of thought, as well as openness, creativity, and civility. The curriculum, centered on the contrasting cultures and societies of Africa and the African diaspora around the globe, provides students with the critical and analytical facility that is central to liberal arts, social science, and science training.
We prepare students to understand a changing world, in courses offering the best of humanities and social science education. In addition to selecting courses in history, literature, linguistics, anthropology, and the arts, students in DAAS may choose to study contemporary issues in professional fields such as public policy, urban planning education, environmental studies, information technology, and health sciences. Our undergraduates also have the opportunity to study abroad in Ghana, South Africa, or Burkina Faso, three programs which involve top faculty at both U-M and our partner institutions, providing a rigorous intellectual experience.
Transfer Credits
The Department of Afroamerican and African Studies (DAAS) allows students to take and transfer courses from other institutions to the University of Michigan for prerequisite and major/minor credit. Even if you are transferring from an institution that does not have a department of African American Studies you may already have a solid foundation on which to build, especially with courses in History, Women’s Studies, Literature, or even courses in Criminal Justice or Community Health. Because we are an interdisciplinary program, students regularly combine our courses with courses taught in other departments to complete our major and minor.
Transfer credits may be applied toward our major and our minor. Please set up an appointment with our department advisor who will work with you to better understand your options and our requirements.
To request that transfer and/or study abroad credits count for one of our major or minor courses, please send the following information to daasadvising@umich.edu:
- Course title
- Course description
- Syllabus (a syllabus for the same course in a different term is acceptable)
DAAS will review the course and will respond to your request, typically within two weeks. Please email daasadvising@umich.edu with any questions.
If you're interested in attending the University of Michigan, please visit the university's admissions website for additional information about applying and transferring credits.
Current UM Students with Course Credits to Transfer
If you have already transferred to the University of Michigan, your transfer credits will not appear on your transcript as AAS. For them to count towards the major they must be approved by an advisor. Supporting documentation is essential in the credit evaluation process. If you can, please provide a syllabus from the course(s) you would like to count toward your degree progression. If you wrote a paper, please provide a copy of the paper.
Future Transfer Students
Students who are currently enrolled at another institution and are thinking of transferring into the Department can send inquiries by email (daasadvising@umich.edu) or can arrange to speak to an advisor about which classes to take.
