Shirley Weber, Ph.D.

Dr. Shirley Weber is a full professor and chair of the department of Africana Studies.  She has been a member of the department since its inception in 1972.  Educated in the public schools of Los Angeles, she has a BA, MA and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in the area of speech communications. 

Dr. Weber is recognized nationally and internationally for her ground breaking work to establish the discipline of Africana Studies.  2002-2006 she served as president of the largest international organization of professionals in the field of Africana Studies, the National Council for Black Studies.  She has served on the editorial boards of the Western Journal of Black Studies and the International Journal of Africana Studies.

She has authored numerous articles and chapters in books and referred journals on Black language Marcus Garvey, Gwendolyn Brooks, Black Nationalism, Black Studies and service learning.  Work on black language also appears in a translated text in Polish.

Dr. Weber has served on most of the major committees on campus, including the Academic Senate and the College of Arts and Letters Personnel Committee. She has been selected Outstanding Faculty six times, and was selected Outstanding Young Woman in America twice. 

Dr. Weber is Director of the Academy for Effectively Teaching African American Students, a collaboration between local educators and the university.  This academy re-trains current on effective tools for teaching African American students.  She is the co-founder and Director of the W.E.B. DuBois Leadership Institute for Young Black Scholars through the NAACP, and co-Director of a Summer Institute in Ghana at the University of Lagon.

Dr. Shirley Weber is the co- director of the Alternative Spring Break- South Africa.  Since 2003, a group of students travels to South Africa to volunteer at youth centers in Cape Town and Johannesburg.  Her work in South Africa was featured on MTV’s “Amazing Break” program that was aired around the globe.

For her humanitarian work, Dr. Weber has received hundreds of awards from a wide range of organizations (NAACP, Urban League, ACLU, Women’s’ International) to numerous to name.  2006, Dr. Weber was appointed to the Board of Directors of Southwestern Christian College, an HBCU in Terrell, Texas.

Dissertation: Marcus Garvey, Leading Spokesman of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in the United States., 1916-1929, unpublished dissertation, Los Angeles, UCLA, September 1975.

AREA of Specialization: Marcus Garvey, Black nationalism, black language, Education of African American children.

Courses Taught: AFRAS 140,332, 360, 362, 363. 380 and 385

Recent Honors: Local Hero Award; Ankh Maat Wedjau Honor Society; NCBS Presidential Award, YMCA

Recent Grants: NCBS – NBUF Grant for Community Education; Travel Grants to Ghana and South Africa

Department Committee Chaired: Community Library Course; Scholarship, black History Month; Black Baccalaureate

Current University Committee:  MLK Annual Celebration, CAL Personnel, SDSU Library Black Archive Collection

Current Community Committees: Vice President –NAACP; YMCA Scholarship; City Equal Opportunity Commission; Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education

Current Research: A text on Introduction to Africana Studies and a text on educating African American.