Dr. Sheila Aird

Board Member

Dr. Sheila Aird is the Interim Director of European Academic Programs for SUNY’s Empire State College. Dr. Aird oversees the academic program for Prague, Athens, Thessaloniki and Tirana, Albania. Prior to this assignment, Dr. Aird, an Associate Professor and Academic Coordinator for Global Studies at SUNY’s Empire State College was actively engaged with teaching, mentoring and developing new strategies to engage learners.

She received her Ph.D. in Latin and Caribbean History and second MA in History from Howard University. During her final year of research for the Ph.D., she was awarded the prestigious Sasakawa Fellowship from the Nipon Foundation in Japan. The title of her work, “The Forgotten Ones: Enslaved children in Caribbean Societies, 1673-1838” focuses on the experiences of enslaved children in the British Caribbean. The work is a broad examination of the lives of the youngest victims of the trade in human cargoe. Although the work focuses on children in the Caribbean, it is the story of all enslaved children regardless of geographical location whose voices have been minimized in historical discourse.

Prior to joining Empire State College, Dr. Aird was an adjunct Professor in the African American Studies Department at Syracuse University. During her tenure at Syracuse University, she was honored with the Sojourner Truth Award by the National Association of Negro Business Professional Women’s Clubs, Syracuse Chapter.

Dr. Aird holds a BA in Anthropology and a MA in Anthropology with a focus on Historical Archeology from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. She has been involved in several historical archaeological projects in St. John Virgin Islands. Additionally, she worked on an awareness program in Syracuse NY titled “Save the Faces.” The citywide conservation and preservation effort centered on clay faces sculpted on dirt walls in the basement of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, an Underground Railroad site. Her participation resulted in a collaborative project with Dr. Douglas Armstrong of the Maxwell School to educate not only the public, but also school-age children.