Appiah accepts Princeton appointment - Noteworthy news: the latest news from across the country news analysis - Dr. Kwame Anthony Appiah - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, Feb 14, 2002 by Ronald Roach

PRINCETON, N.J.

Dr. Kwame Anthony Appiah, who has been a noted member of the Harvard University Afro-American studies department, will join the Princeton University faculty as a full professor effective Sept. 1, according to Princeton University officials. He submitted a resignation letter to Harvard officials in late January.

Appiah has been the Charles H. Carswell Professor of Afro-American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard University. He specializes in moral and political philosophy, African and African-American studies, literary theory and criticism, and issues of personal and political identity. Appiah joined the Harvard faculty in 1991, after holding faculty positions at Duke, Cornell and Yale universities.

Appiah has told news reporters that his decision to leave Harvard did not result from the rift that developed between Dr. Cornel West and Harvard president Dr. Lawrence H. Summers over Summers' criticism of West in a private meeting this past October. In support of their colleague West, members of the Afro-American studies department, including Appiah, countered that they were considering leaving Harvard for Princeton. Summers subsequently met with Afro-American studies department faculty members and mended his relationship with them.

"I have no dissatisfaction with Larry Summers or anyone in the department at Harvard. I'm leaving because of the personal and intellectual opportunities at Princeton," Appiah told the New York Times.

Summers, who was traveling in Japan in late January, issued a statement, saying, "Professor Appiah has made important contributions at Harvard through his work in Afro-American Studies and in Philosophy. He will be missed."