NEW UNM Africana Studies Director
New Leadership and New
Direction for Africana Studies
Dr. Charles Becknell, Jr.
By Eugene Byerly
Dr. Charles Becknell Jr. is the new Director of the
Africana Studies program at The University of New
Mexico.
Dr. Becknell earned his B.A. with a concentration
in Africana American Studies from UNM in 1993.
After graduating from UNM he worked in Washington,
DC, as a Legislative Intern for Senator Jeff Bingaman
where he assisted in the development and passage of
the Technology for Education Act of 1993.
Following his stint on Capitol Hill, Dr. Becknell
earned an M.A. in Criminal Justice Administration from
Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, GA (a Historically
Black College and University). After graduating from
CAU, Becknell worked as an investigator/mitigation
expert for the Capital Defender Office in Rochester,
NY, where he assisted in the representation of indigent
defendants facing capital charges. Becknell ultimately
returned to his home state of New Mexico, and started
his academic career at the University of New Mexico as a
Research Assistant with the Center for Regional Studies
investigating 18th–20 th century African American social
and family history and biographies. Later, Dr. Becknell
completed his Ph.D. in UNM’s College of Education
in 2008, with a dissertation focused on the history of
the program that he will now direct. Dr. Becknell went
on to earn a Post Doctoral Diversity Fellowship at the
University of New Mexico’s Division for Equity and
Inclusion, which later earned him the position of Special
Assistant to the Vice President for Equity and Inclusion.
Dr. Becknell has taught undergraduate courses in
Africana Studies and graduate courses in the College
of Education. His teaching and research is guided by
a critical Africana Studies philosophy, which draws on
the rich intellectual resources of the African past and an
expressed commitment to using acquired knowledge and
skills in the service of humanity.
His courses and lectures are designed to prepare
students to interrogate, persistently search, and figure
out how ideas came into being and the role they play in
improving the human condition and enhancing human
hope and future. In a few words he concluded, “My
teaching philosophy challenges me to continually
be aware of what I am teaching students to become.
Ultimately, I expect our students to use their acquired
skills and knowledge to challenge unethical social
norms.”
As the new Director of the Africana Studies Program
at the University of New Mexico, Dr. Becknell invites
you to