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Engaging Africa: Strategic Planning Initiative Underway

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Africa consistently rates among the top-five areas of interest among Georgia Tech students.

That strong interest and the long-term involvement of College and Institute faculty in teaching, research, and collaboration in Africa, are prompting development of a strategy for the Institute's involvement in Africa concurrent with development of Georgia Tech's new strategic plan.

The level of interest in Africa was apparent at the November, 2009 student-hosted symposium Africa@Tech: Engaging Universities in African Development. The event generated standing-room-only attendance in the Technology Square Research Building auditorium. Faculty and students from across Georgia Tech (and Atlanta) heard a panel of eminent consuls from Botswana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, and Tanzania discuss how the city could help higher education in their countries. Susan Cozzens, Ivan Allen College Associate Dean for Research, hosted the event.

"That event certainly fed into this emerging Georgia Tech initiative," said Cozzens. She and two other College faculty are members of an initial Africa strategy planning committee being led by Stephen McLaughlin, Georgia Tech's Vice Provost for International Initiatives.

"Ivan Allen College faculty have strong connections to Africa and are engaged with its development in many areas: science and technology; education, language, culture, political reconciliation, and stabilization of democracies," said Cozzens.

Cozzens brings to the committee her experience as a consultant to South Africa's Department of Science and Technology on advisory panels evaluating the country's National Advisory Council for Innovation, National Research Foundation, and Centres of Excellence.

Assistant Professor Wenda Bauchspies, a sociologist and cultural anthropologist in the School of History, Technology, and Society, contributes based upon her seventeen years focusing on science, technology, and gender issues in West Africa.

Also on the committee is School of International Affairs and College of Computing Assistant Professor Mike Best who has been a trusted advisor and analyst helping Liberia develop internet communications technologies (ICT) for post-conflict resolution and economic growth in the wake of a devastating 14-year civil war. He is also developing ICT projects in Ghana.

Other early stage committee members are Gilda Barabino, Vice Provost and Professor in Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Aris Georgakakos and Adjo Amekudzi, professors in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The group is currently identifying Africa-focused research and projects that are already underway at Georgia Tech as a foundation for building the Institute's strategy for student and faculty-centered activities.

Africa-centered work is taking place in all six of the schools within the Ivan Allen College. Some of that work was featured in the College's March 15, 2010 Founder's Day Symposium Humanitarian Leadership on a Global Level: Georgia Tech Responds to the Challenge of the Allen Legacy. In a session on Africa, Professor Best, and School of Literature, Communication, and Culture Assistant Professor Fox Harrell presented research and projects related to the Liberian ICT research.

In the School of Economics, Assistant Professor Ruth Uwaifo does research on health and education in West Africa. School of Literature, Communication, and Culture Professor Angela Dalle Vacche and Assistant Professor Vinicius Navarro curate an annual African Film Series at Georgia Tech. In 2009, the School of Modern Languages introduced courses in Arabic (spoken in North Africa) and is planning for Study Abroad in Morocco. They are considering adding Swahili to the program. Professors Willie Pearson of HTS and Cheryl Leggon of Public Policy have advised South African universities on opportunities for students from groups under-represented in science and engineering careers.

"It is fortuitous that this initiative is undertaken in the midst of the developing the larger strategic plan for Georgia Tech," said Interim Dean Ken Knoespel. "That strategic underpinning will provide a solid foundation for extending this initiative across colleges and disciplines and for realizing multi-faceted approaches to this important work."

From study abroad to community projects and intensive research, the Africa initiative on our campus underscores Georgia Tech and the Ivan Allen College's commitment to a global human-centered research, teaching, and collaboration.

Faculty with relevant work are asked to contact teresa.dodd@oie.gatech.edu in Stephen McLaughlin's office offering a description of how they are involved in Africa; the faculty member(s) involved; and a two to three sentence description of the project, and sponsors.

 

Status

  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Rebecca Keane
  • Created:04/15/2010
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016