Culture, Race, and Ethnicity Center Gets Director

Three years after its establishment, the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity has its first permanent director, Larry Hajime Shinagawa. The center had been led by interim director Asma Barlas, associate professor and chair of politics, since its 1999 inception.

"I and all others who interacted with Larry Shinagawa during the search process were very impressed with his ideas and experience and excited about the prospect of bringing him to Ithaca College," says President Williams. Shinagawa comes to Ithaca from Sonoma State University in California, where he was chair and associate professor in the Department of American Multicultural Studies/Ethnic Studies. During his tenure as chair, the department became the first program in the country to offer an ethnic studies–based undergraduate multicultural teacher credential major. The author of four books and numerous articles, Shinagawa focuses on demography, comparative race relations, intermarriage, ethnic politics, and immigration.

Shinagawa hopes to get right to work at Ithaca, on issues such as furthering the development of minority faculty and helping create public events related to diversity, multiculturalism, and interdisciplinary studies. "Dr. Shinagawa will ensure that the center remains at the forefront of challenging interdisciplinary programming and cross-campus collaboration, as it has under the able leadership of Dr. Asma Barlas," says associate provost Tanya Saunders. "And he will move the College forward in meeting its goals with respect to diversity and international learning."