First AADS Major Set to Graduate in May 2026
By: Zamariah Strozier, Staff Writer
August 18, 2025
Xavier currently has five students majoring in the new African American Diaspora Studies (AADS) Department for their undergraduate degree. AADS started as a minor consisting of Black studies courses offered to all students but now has elevated to a major on its own.
“You can do any and everything with an AADS degree,” said Dr. Sharlene Sinegal-DeCuir, the AADS department chair.
In 2020, a team of faculty members gathered to create a proposal for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Their proposal was accepted, and the university received a grant to create the AADS major at Xavier.
Photo courtesy of Xavier African American Diaspora Club
“It might be beneficial for you to understand the medical disparities in the African American community or why black people don’t like to go to the doctor’s office. What happened in the Tuskegee study? What happened with the COVID studies, all these different things like that. It also provides you with bedside manners,” DeCuir added.
Among the AADS students is Kaleb Wilkes. Wilkes is a junior dual AADS and Psychology major, from Dallas, Texas. and a first-generation college student.
“The first class that I took after Intro to African American Social Sciences was the New Social Justice movement with Dr. [Rasheed] Atwater, and it was in that class that I decided that I wanted to be a professor,” Wilkes said.
Wilkes’ role as the first AADS major at Xavier provides powerful representation for Black men on campus especially since there is significantly more female than male students and where Black studies degrees are not as valued as other degrees.
“I’ve always really been into learning, and I generally love the education process. It was in that class where I saw like how profound African American academia can be and how much thought can go into the Black experience,” Wilkes added.
Photo courtesy of Xavier African American Diaspora Club
Wilkes became a major in Fall 2024 right after it was established in Spring 2024. He made this decision after taking his first Black studies course at Xavier in Fall 2022 as an African Heritage and Legacies core requirement for his psychology major and speaking more with his professors afterwards.
He shared that he attended a conservative White school in his hometown where his peers remained misinformed on the culture and history of Black people. This experience changed when he entered high school and joined a community of other Black students where he was educated on Black history and legacy.
“I think that as the first major, he kind of has really shown the ideas that the department is trying to show to the campus and bring to the campus in just being himself,” said Aaliyah Bailey, a junior, psychological sciences major. Bailey is minoring in AADS.
Wilkes is using his AADS degree to pursue a career as a Black studies professor. He is on schedule to graduate in May of 2026.
“Kaleb’s future is bright! I see great things for Kaleb. He was the first student at XU to have faith in what I was building with the AADS department,” DeCuir said.
