The first of several candidates for the position of Dean of the Study of Race and Ethnicity is on campus this week.

Jane Rhodes, associate professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego, will be delivering a public lecture entitled “Black Power Across the Black Atlantic” today at noon in Humanities Room 401. The lecture will focus on the influence of 1960s figures such as Malcolm X, Stokley Carmichael and the Black Panther Party on the later British Black Power movements.

Yesterday, Rhodes met with students at a “Soup and Substance” lunch and a student reception held in the Lealtad-Suzuki Center.

Students who have the opportunity to meet with Rhodes at these occasions are asked to complete evaluation forms on the candidate.

“We really listen to what [students] say,” said Department Coordinator for American Studies Kathie Scott, a member of the search committee. “We want as much feedback as we can get from people.”

During her Macalester visit, Rhodes will meet with several members of the campus community, including President Brian Rosenberg, Provost Dan Hornbach, Dean of Multicultural Life Joi Lewis and the American Studies Advisory Board. She is required to deliver the public lecture and talk with any members of the Macalester community who request an opportunity to meet with her.

According to Scott, each candidate’s visit will be a very intensive process in which the search committee attempts to introduce the candidate to all parts of the Macalester community.

“[The candidates] leave pretty exhausted,” Scott said.

According to Scott, a candidate was offered the position last year, but he refused for personal reasons. The search was reactivated this fall.

Scott said that the committee anticipates a visit from at least one more candidate in the following weeks.