Coleman, James Smoot

Biography

James Smoot Coleman was born in Provo, Utah on February 4, 1919. He earned his bachelor's degree at Brigham Young University, his M.A. and Ph.D. at Harvard, and joined the UCLA faculty as an instructor in 1953. He died from a heart attack on April 20, 1985, at age 66.

Professor Coleman was among the first American scholars to recognize, understand, and give voice to the significance of the African perspective. His scholarly works include pioneering work on nationalism, education and development theory. He also wrote on the topics academic freedom and political economy. His books, "Nigeria: Background to Nationalism" and "Education and Political Development," are classics in the field.

Professor Coleman's academic career was prolific. After teaching at UCLA for 11 years, Dr. Coleman left the university in 1965 to become Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Makerere University College at the University of East Africa in Uganda. In 1967 he was named Director for the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi. During that time he served as an associate director of the Rockefeller Foundation and as its representative in East Africa and Zaire. He returned to UCLA in 1978 as Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Council on International and Comparative Studies. He was named Director of International Studies and Overseas Programs in 1984.

In 1985, the African Studies Center at UCLA was named in honor of its founder, Professor James S. Coleman, whose pioneering scholarship marks him as one of the architects of African Area Studies throughout the world. Today, the James S. Coleman African Studies Center is considered one of the top centers of its kind in the United States.

From the guide to the James Smoot Coleman Papers, 1946-1987, bulk, 1964-1987, (University of California, Los Angeles. Library. Department of Special Collections.)