Bruce M. Haight | | Western Michigan University
Bruce M. Haight
Professor Office: 4420
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Bruce Haight Retirement Celebration
February 2, 2012, 4 to 6 p.m.
The Oaklands -
Open to the Public
Share your memories
Dr. Bruce Haight Retires After 41 Years at WMU
Dr. Bruce Haight, Professor of African History, is retiring this year after forty-one years of service to WMU. A Michigan native, Haight graduated from Kalamazoo College before receiving his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. As an undergraduate, Haight traveled twice to Sierra Leone, which inspired his passion for African History. “I aspired to write a different kind of history,” he says. “A history in which Africans spoke with their own voice.” This approach can be seen in Haight’s publications, which include Chronicles from Gonja (Cambridge University Press, 1986) and, especially, in Lamidi Olonade Fakeye (Hope College: U. of Washington Press, 1996), a biography of the artist Fakeye who in 2006 was named a “Living Treasure” by UNESCO. Haight came to Western in 1970, teaching a range of courses in the College of General Studies. Although he was often team teaching classes that were far outside his area of specialization, he traveled to Africa for research a total of eight times. Amazingly, it wasn’t until 1989 that Haight finally had the opportunity to teach African History. In that year, WMU disbanded the College of General Studies and Haight, along with six other General Studies’ historians, joined the Department of History.
Although thrilled to be teaching in his own field, Haight immediately began to look for other opportunities, which he found in the area of history education. In the early 1990s, while Haight was reviewing Fulbright proposals, he was struck by the quality of the K-12 proposals, which he found to be just as strong (and in many cases stronger) than the higher education proposals. Sensing an opportunity, Haight began teaching History 494, the capstone course for History Education majors in the department. Haight sought out connections between local schools and the department, bringing in current teachers and administrators to offer practical lessons and advice to students. Haight still hears regularly from students who took 494 with him. “They often recall very specific activities and lessons,” he says. The same is true for Haight’s courses in African history. “I employed an improvisational approach, almost like jazz,” Haight notes, “and that really connected with a lot of students who don’t necessarily respond to a more structured approach.” While Haight’s students have no doubt learned a great deal from him over the years, he feels just as fortunate to have worked with them. Haight is particularly grateful for all of the history education students who have helped him to rethink his own classroom approaches. “I learned a lot from them, and I brought a lot of their tricks into my own classes,” he says.
To help honor Dr. Haight’s long and distinguished career, the department has set up a fund to which alumni and others can contribute. Given his long and storied involvement with history education, it is fitting that the fund is designed to assist local teachers who are working on their graduate degrees. The idea for this fund came from one created by Dr. John Houdek, who also wanted to support returning teachers. Rather than create a fund in his own name, Haight, modest as always, asked that money go to the Houdek fund. With their permission, the fund will be called the Houdek/Haight Fund to Support Returning Teachers. Those interested in contributing to that fund may go directly to the gift page.
The department is hosting a retirement celebration for Dr. Haight on February 2, 2012, at the Oaklands Residence on the WMU campus. The reception is open to the public and runs from 4:00-6:00 pm. Whether you can be there or not, please take a moment to share your memories. Remembrances submitted through the site will be collected and shared with Dr. Haight at the retirement celebration.
Selected publications:
BMH and Lamidi Fakeye with David Curl, Lamidi Olonade Fakeye: A Retrospective Exhibition and Autobiography (Distributed by the University of Washington Press, 1996, 2nd printing 1999); Ivor Wilks, Nehemia Levtzion and BMH, Chronicles from Gonja: A Tradition of West African Muslim Historiography (Cambridge University Press, 1986). Articles: Teaching History: A Journal of Method; and the American Anthropologist.
Professional Information
Bachelor of Arts
- Kalamazoo College
- History. Major Advisor: John Peterson
M.A., Ph.D.
- Major Field: African History
- Major Advisor: Ivor Wilks, and studies under Nehemia Levtzion, Margaret Priestley-Bax, and John Rowe
- Minor Field: History of the Middle East: 622 - 1500
- Research Related Field: Political Anthropology. Studies under Ron Cohen
Further Study
- NEH Summer Institute at the National Museum of African Art under Rene Bravmann and Douglas Fraser (1979)
Professional Achievements
- Received the WMU College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Achievement Award for Professional and Community Service (2004)
- Elected as Faculty Representative to the Executive Board of CAMP (Cooperative Africana Microfilm Project) of the Center for Research Libraries (2003)
- Invited to the "CRL Historians Conference" at the Center for Research Libraries (3/2002)
- Chair of the WMU Faculty Senate Library Committee (2001-DATE)
- Member of the WMU Library Dean's Search Committee (2001-2002)
- Curated retrospective exhibitions of Fakeye's sculpture at Hope College (1996) and Western Michigan University (1987)
- Consultant on Fakeye exhibitions:
2009: Wabash College, Western Michigan University & the Kalamazoo Black Arts & Cultural Center
1999/2000: Focus Gallery of the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian - Field research: Nigeria (1989, 1992, 1996, and 1999); Ghana (1972/3, 1969) and Sierra Leone (1966-7)
- Research presentations: African Studies Association; the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies; Obafemi Awolowo University of Ile-Ife, Nigeria; the American Museum of Natural History; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Council for Geographic Education; and the Michigan Council for Social Studies
- Joint presentations with Fakeye: Western Michigan University (2009); the National Museum of Natural History/the Smithsonian (1999), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998); the University of Iowa and Northwestern University (1997); the Indianapolis Museum (1994); et. al.
- Chaired a panel and presented on "Africa in the K-12 Classroom: Lessons From the University and Collaboration in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek" at the Michigan Council for the Social Studies Annual Meeting (2/28/2002)
In December 2009, Lamidi Fakeye, the internationally acclaimed African sculptor with ties to WMU, passed away. Read Dr. Haight's eulogy for Mr. Fakeye.