MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR 

Since 1969, the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies – founded as the Center for Afro-American Studies (CAAS) – has served as a national and global leader in the study, advancement, and preservation of Black life. As director of the only such organized research unit within the University of California, I am excited to carry on the Center’s 56-year legacy of excellence in academic research and scholarship. Through longstanding and new collaborations, we continue to pioneer academic research and community-based initiatives that have broad impact for Black communities across California, the United States, and internationally. 

Our wide range of over eighty (80) affiliated scholars, from law and the medical sciences to dance and the humanities, advance groundbreaking research that not only explores Black communities and their experiences, but puts a critical lens on important policy issues to create a more equitable state for all. Further, our library maintains one of California’s most significant collections of artifacts, testimonies, and historical texts documenting the Black experience.

The Bunche Center continues to support faculty-led research and programs including the Bunche Fellows Program, the Black Policy Project, Million Dollar Hoods, and the Hip Hop Initiative. The Bunche Center also supports new partnerships such as the Mark Q. Sawyer Summer Institute in Race, Ethnicity and Politics – a UC-Historically Black College and University (HBCU) collaboration with Howard University in Washington, DC. This six-week summer research program provides training to undergraduate students to develop empirical research methods and coding skills, while preparing students to be competitive graduate school applicants. Our summer program also partners with the UCLA Academic Advancement Program/McNair Research Scholars Program. Additionally, the Bunche Center supports the Ethnic Studies Summer Certificate Program for K-12 Teachers, designed for teachers with an interest in expanding their knowledge of and training in ethnic studies curriculum. This program is a collaboration between the Institute for American Culture (IAC), the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences, and UCLA Extension.  

Now housed within the Bunche Center, the fifth election cycle of the Collaborative Multiracial Post-election Survey (CMPS) – a cooperative, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, post-Presidential election online survey in the United States continues to promote a better understanding of civic health and socio-political life, through high quality survey data collection among hard-to-reach populations.

In January 2025, we welcomed the Arthur Ashe Legacy Project to the Bunche Center. This project is dedicated to honoring the tennis and humanitarian great’s legacy with substantive actions for today’s students and scholars. From offering funding and academic development opportunities for students, to conducting an international oral history initiative, the project highlights Arthur Ashe’s enormous impact and showcases lessons for today.

The Center is gearing up to launch the new Global Black Studies Research Initiative in fall 2025. This serves as our listening and learning year to better understand our UCLA community of faculty, students and staff who engage in, or support, research projects and initiatives on Black life outside of the United States and/or from a comparative perspective to the U.S. We seek to build a collaborative set of opportunities, resources, and experiences through the Bunche Center for UCLA, Los Angeles and the State of California, supporting research and programs in the field of Global Black Studies.

We also provide support for several departments and programs across campus including the UCLA Institute of American Culture (IAC),  the UCLA Department of African American Studies, the UCLA Prison Education Project and a host of Center sponsored research and events from affiliated faculty, dpeartments and units. 

As we celebrate 56-years of the Bunche Center, we are committed to continuing to build upon its rich legacy of research, scholarship and community-based programs centered on Black Studies through a wide range of research, events and featured speakers who exemplify the spirit of equity and excellence upon which the Bunche Center was founded. We invite all our supporters to join us on the Center’s journey as we continue to uplift the needs, experiences and untapped potential of Black communities across the diaspora. 

Stay tuned for announcements, events, and our brand new Ralph J. Bunche Center Website launching in Spring 2025!