A well-deserved retirement

More than 30 years of dedication to anything is impressive. Helping to create and sustain what was once a controversial department while maintaining impeccable standards of scholarship over those same 34 years is truly remarkable.\nIU is losing one of its brightest scholars and administrators to retirement. professor William Wiggins is retiring from his position in the African American and African Diaspora Studies department after a distinguished career during which he nurtured the program from its genesis during the 1969-70 school year to maturity.\n"I think it's important for students and faculty to realize how rare it is for an African-American male to retire with the accolades and achievements that Bill Wiggins has," said John Stanfield, African American and African Diaspora Studies department chair. \nFrom 1965 to 1969, Wiggins served as director of religious life at Texas College in Tyler, Texas. Wiggins became an ordained minister of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1969, he came to IU as a graduate student in folklore studies and was the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in the field. \nBy 1971, the emerging African-American studies program became a department, and Wiggins was part of the original faculty. He proceeded to become an assistant professor in 1974, a Guggenheim fellowship recipient in 1988, a full professor in 1993, was appointed Acting Dean of African American Affairs in 1998 and served as interim chair of Afro-American Studies from 2000 to 2002.\n"I'm proud of the fact that it has survived and flourished from a small department and program into a program with a major, and now having developed a masters program," Wiggins said.\nStanfield also said that the department will be adding a Ph.D. program in the future, in large part due to the efforts of Wiggins. \nBut Wiggins's contributions to the University extend far beyond his role as a scholar and administrator. \n"He's the one faculty member on this campus who you'll see who wants to give you a hug," said Valerie Grim, professor of African American and African Diaspora studies, who has worked with Wiggins for 13 years.\nWiggins also has been active in mentoring students and has worked with numerous student athletes, said Stanfield.\nThe man who Grim said she characterizes as "our walking historical archives" will not disappear from university life completely. Wiggins plans to continue work with the degree programs and assist the department on a volunteer basis. He also has finished revisions on his biography of Joe Louis that is slated to be published by the University of Illinois Press.\n"I have a lot of pro bono stuff to do (in the department)," Wiggins said, jokingly.\nHis colleagues said they were not surprised by Wiggins's determination to stay involved with students and the department.\n"I know that probably for the next two years he'll be popping his head in and out to give his ideas," said Virginia Githiri, academic specialist in undergraduate affairs for the African American and African Diaspora Studies department.\nWiggins said he plans to continue as a community columnist for the Herald Times and to "get out my cooking skills" in helping his wife, Janice Wiggins, with her work as director of IU's Groups program, which assists first generation college students, students with disabilities and students with limited financial resources.\nGraduate student Byron Thomas said he is confident that the program will continue to flourish, and the impact of Wiggins will be felt for years to come. \n"The African American studies department will continue to grow and evolve to become the top department in the U.S., because William Wiggins has laid such a strong foundation," Thomas said.