DeKALB — At a young age, Anne Edwards knew she wanted to help people by becoming a teacher. Instead, she found her love for guiding students not in the classroom, but at the Center for Black Studies. 

Edwards was recently appointed director of the Center for Black Studies in July after serving as interim director for two years. Edwards said despite the word “acting” in front of her job title, she always treated the position like it was a permanent one. 

“When I came into the role, I had a strategic plan from day one, and there were things that I wanted to accomplish in this role for however long I was going to have it,” Edwards said. “For me, it’s like I don’t know what it is to be acting, because I was doing a good job in terms of like, making sure that I, that we were a world-class Center for Black Studies.” 

For Edwards, a world-class Center for Black Studies means leading Black students down the road to excellence during their time at NIU and after they graduate. 

In 2006, Edwards earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in hospitality and tourism management from Purdue University. She said she had a goal of becoming an event planner until she stood in front of a class to teach. 

Edwards began her career in higher education at her alma mater, Purdue University, where she took a graduate assistantship at the Black Cultural Center. Here, she found her love for teaching students in the classroom and getting students prepared for life after college. 

“I had no clue that this trajectory was going to lead me into work that I love,” Edwards said. “I love what I do, and a lot of people don’t say that, but I actually love it, and a lot of it is because of the students.” 

In 2012, she went on to earn her Master’s of Business Administration from Valparaiso University. 

Edwards came to NIU in 2012 as a career counselor at NIU’s Career Services, where she helped students who majored in business and health and human science. She said she was drawn to NIU after seeing diversity within the student body. 

“Helping students of color with career development is really what led me down the path to my academics and what I’m studying in school,” Edwards said. “This idea of how do black students go about choosing their careers.” 

Edwards is currently on her way to earning her Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology and will graduate in December from NIU.

Each year, Edwards looks forward to the Black Graduation ceremony at NIU. She said events like these are life-changing for Black students because they’re changing the generational perspective for their family and the future. 

“Black graduation is one of my favorite memories because those students who didn’t think they could make it or had academic challenges or personal challenges, we get to see them and celebrate them,” Edwards said. “I get chills just talking about it.” 

For the future, Edwards wants to raise the visibility of the Center for Black Studies, increase the number of students who are pursuing a Black Studies minor and increase the promotion of events the center holds. 

“I think we are a very student-centered, student-centric space where they just come and sit and breathe and you never know, you can come into the center and happen upon a dialogue about anything,” Edwards said.