Congratulations to RC, Semester in Detroit, and Afroamerican and African Studies faculty member, Stephen Ward on being named a 2021 Arthur F. Thurnau Professor! We’re proud to call you a member of our community!
To become a Thurnau professor, faculty members must demonstrate a strong commitment to teaching and learning, excellence and innovation in teaching, and dedication to working effectively with a diverse student body. They must have also made an impact on students’ intellectual or artistic development and on their lives, and contributed to undergraduate education in ways that extend beyond the classroom, studio or lab. Thurnau professors retain the title throughout their careers and receive $20,000 to support activities that further enhance their teaching.
Stephen is deeply committed to the RC community. He is an associate director of the RC, a faculty member in the Social Theory & Practice program as well as the Urban Studies minor (for which he is also the founder and advisor). He is also the Faculty Director and faculty member of Semester in Detroit, a program he helped guide to its founding. He is an historian that leads his students “to actively engage with history, to root it in real people and places, and to unearth its relevance to today" as it says in his Thurnau description.
You can hear Stephen on the RC Podcast on episode 14 talking about the origins and programming of Semester in Detroit, as well as episode 28, regarding the fall 2020 U-M campus strikes.
