Every Monday morning, Ibram Kendi parks his car in the orange decal parking lot for UF faculty, just north of the O’Connell Center.
Then, he begins the 10-minute trek to UF’s Keene-Flint Hall — home to his office — just west of Library West.
As he walks, the 35-year-old UF African-American history assistant professor from New York City said he often thinks about current events and the lectures he prepared for the day.
As he finally walks up the steps to Keene-Flint Hall and enters the doors, he sees the familiar faces of students and colleagues greeting him.
He then repeats this routine four more times each week.
This walk to his office and those familiar faces that buzz past him every morning are just some of the things he said he will miss as his time at UF comes to an end.
Kendi accepted a teaching position at American University in Washington, D.C., and he will be leaving UF this August, which he announced May 10.
He said the AU staff began a months-long effort to recruit him after he headlined several speaking engagements at the AU campus during Fall 2016.
Kendi said he will continue teaching African-American history and will be founding AU’s Anti-Racist Research and Policy Center.
“I’m looking forward to most building this center,” Kendi said. “We, as a nation, have been dealing with racial problems for quite some time.”
Kendi said he hopes his work at AU will be able to prevent future incidents of racism AU has seen recently.
One such incident involves Taylor Dumpson, the first black female president of AU’s Student Government.
Dumpson became president May 1, and that same day, bananas hanging by nooses that targeted her and her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, were found around campus.
“I’m excited to go to American University and seek to help defend those students and create a campus that shields students from that type of activity,” Kendi said.
Kendi was a professor of African-American history, with an emphasis on racist and anti-racist ideas and movements, at UF, according to the official UF website.
While at UF, Kendi wrote the award-winning “The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education,” which studies some of the most transformative academic movements in American history.
“I feel like I came into my own as a scholar at UF,” he said. “I will always remember UF for giving that sort of platform and that opportunity to do that.”
Kendi also wrote The New York Times Bestseller, “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America,” which uncovers the history and understanding of racist ideology.
“I think what (‘Stamped from the Beginning’) does is it changes the conversation,” UF history professor Steven Noll said. “I think that’s very important. It brings up things we weren’t talking about in different ways.”
Although Kendi will be pursuing his passion at AU, he said he will miss being at UF and all his colleagues for their support.
“I hope he continues to do the things that he did here, which is be a public intellectual, and also engage students the way he has,” Noll said.
UF history professor, Lauren Pearlman, another of Kendi’s colleagues, also said she will miss the work he has done and the passion he had at UF.
“I’ll remember Dr. Kendi’s graciousness for meeting and his willingness to give time to students and colleagues alike,” Pearlman said. “He takes the time to ask how colleagues are doing.”
