ITHACA, N.Y. -- Salah Hassan has been appointed to a five-year term as director of Cornell University's Africana Studies and Research Center effective July 1, the Office of the Provost announced May 12. Hassan, chair of the Department of History of Art and associate professor of African and African Diaspora art history and visual culture, has served as the center's acting director for two years, overseeing the renovation and expansion of the facility that was celebrated with a formal dedication ceremony April 29. 

"I am delighted to announce that Professor Salah Hassan has accepted the position of director," said Provost Biddy Martin. "Salah brings to the position a deep appreciation for the work of the center and exceptional leadership qualities."

In accepting the appointment, Hassan said, "It comes at a very exciting time for the Africana Center as we celebrate our 35th anniversary with the completion of a first-class facility unparalleled in comparison to our peers in major research universities. Having such a superb infrastructure facilitates our major future plans which include the establishment of a Ph.D. program in Africana studies, a curricula revision at both graduate and undergraduate levels, expanding and strengthening our offerings in African languages, new faculty appointments, fund raising for endowed professorships, research and publications, and study abroad and exchange programs in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America." 

These plans, Hassan explained, are part of a self-study prepared by the faculty in anticipation of an external review of the center in fall 2005. 

Born in the Sudan, Hassan received his Ph.D. in 1988 and an M.A. in 1984 from the University of Pennsylvania, after graduating with a B.A. (honors) in 1978 from the University of Khartoum, Sudan. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty in 1993, Hassan taught in the Department of History of Art at the University of Buffalo, the Department of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania and the Department of Art History and General Studies in the College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum. Hassan is author and editor of several books, including "Unpacking Europe" (Rotterdam: 2001); "Authentic/Ex-Centric: Conceptualism in Contemporary African Art" (2001); "Gendered Visions: The Art of Contemporary Africana Women Artists" (1997); "The Muse of Modernity: Essays on Culture as Development in Africa" (1996); and "Art and Islamic Literacy Among the Hausa of Northern Nigeria" (1992). He contributed to several anthologies including "The Art of African Fashion" (1998) and "Reading the Contemporary: African Art From Theory to Marketplace," edited by Olu Oguibe and Okwui Enwezor (1999). In addition, he authored numerous articles on contemporary African art and culture published in art journals and magazines. Hassan is currently working on a book manuscript titled "Khartoum School: The Making of the Modern Art Movement in Sudan."

Also a curator and art critic of international renown, Hassan is founder and editor of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art and serves as consulting editor for African Arts. He curated major international exhibits including two major shows at the 47th and 49th Venice Biennali and another, "Unpacking Europe," at the Museum Boijmans in Rotterdam, Netherlands. 

He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including several grants from the Ford Foundation to organize the African participation at the 49th and 50th Venice Biennali and in support of companion publications. He also received a Ford Grant in support of a major conference at Cornell, "Visualizing Blackness," held in October 2000. The conference coincided with a major exhibition, "Blackness in Color: Visual Expressions of the Black Arts Movement (1960-Present)," which opened at the H.F. Johnson Museum of Art in 2000. Most recently, he received a major grant from Arts International in support of a publication and the critically acclaimed project "3X3: Diaspora, Memory and Place," organized as the official U.S. participation in the Dakar Biennale of Contemporary African Art in June 2004.