Delta State has established itself as the "Academic Center for the Blues." The International Delta Blues Project brings visiting scholars, lecturers, and artists to the Delta to teach and learn about Blues music, people, and culture through the International Conference on the Blues and a Blues Studies minor, among other programs.
In Summer 2016, Delta State launched the International Blues Scholars Program, an online graduate-level Blues Studies curriculum. The online program offers certificates for advanced interdisciplinary study of Blues music.
The Blues is an important genre of music that has influenced many other styles of music and continues to be a prominent African American musical tradition. Delta State is the home of the first multidisciplinary approach to the study of the blues, which has included in-depth study of the musical form, but also provide a scholarly lens to examine its influence on art, literature, music history, and economic development.
Joining President LaForge are three people who have been at the center of planning and implementing an exciting new Blues curriculum program: Rolando Herts, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning which hosts the annual Blues conference on campus; Tim Colbert, a member of the Delta State faculty who is helping to lead this new course of study; and Scott Baretta, who will be teaching one of the courses.
