A renowned Stanford-trained professor is returning to the Farm starting next academic year.

James T. Campbell Ph.D. ‘89, currently an American Civilization and Africana Studies professor at Brown University, will take up a position at Stanford in the History Department, where he will continue to pursue his research on African-American history.

At Brown, Campbell serves as chair of the University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, which has researched Brown’s relationship to slavery and the slave trade.

Campbell has also studied South Africa, the role of race in the American Revolution and the Civil Rights movement, among other issues.

“He’s created a very unique scholarly niche,” said History Prof. David Kennedy ‘63. “He’s one of the few people anywhere who is equally at home in African Studies and American history.”

Campbell’s appointment comes at a time when Stanford is making a push to recruit faculty who study ethnic minorities. It also follows recent departures of professors who specialized in such research, including Political Science Prof. Luis Fraga, Sociology Prof. Lawrence Bobo and Associate Communication Prof. Marcyliena Morgan.

The appointment is independent of Stanford’s Faculty Diversity Initiative, which aims to appoint 10 young scholars to the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) within the next five years, though Campbell will nonetheless coordinate with the CCSRE.

“James is likely to be a very key player at that center for the next few years,” said History Professor Albert Camarillo.

“We’ve been trying to get James for a year and a half,” Camarillo added. “He’s really emerged as a leading scholar and a major public historian on these issues.”

Campbell’s appointment also comes at a time when the History Department may be entering a crucial transition period.

“In the next five or six years, we’re going to be facing many retirements,” Camarillo said. “And we’re going to continue to search for historians across the fields.”

Campbell — whose scholarship took shape while studying under Stanford History Professor Emeritus George Fredrickson — praised the chance to become part of the program at this time.

“I’m obviously only going to be one person among many,” Campbell said. “But I’m really looking forward to being a part of a conversation about how to teach American history in the 21st century.”

As he makes his preparations to return to Stanford, Campbell noted his continued respect for his alma mater and its potential.

“The History Department at Stanford remains one of the strongest in the nation,” Campbell said. “And right now I think the institution has a unique opportunity to build a program in American history that is at once sensitive to the diversity of the American experience and to America’s place in the world.”