The following NIU faculty and staff have demonstrated leadership and support in ongoing engagement efforts in Africa. Scroll or use the links on the right to browse their activities, publications, and other online resources.
Abu Bah
Associate Professor of Sociology, CLAS
Major Interests
Issues of democracy, nation building, ethnicity, and the peace-making and peace-building role of the international community.
Initiating a Center for Pace and Conflict Studies in Africa and Asia with Susan Russell
Recent publications
Bah, Abu Bakarr. “State Decay and Civil War: A Discourse on Power in Sierra Leone.” Critical Sociology 37, no. 2 (2011):199-216.
Bah, Abu Bakarr. (2010). "Democracy and Civil war: A Discourse on Citizenship and Peacemaking in Cote d'Ivoire." African Affairs. (109) 437:597-615.
Bah, Abu Bakarr. Breakdown and Reconstitution: Democracy, the Nation-State, and Ethnicity in Nigeria. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2005.
Links
African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review. The journal is housed at NIU. See http://www.jstor.org/page/journal/africonfpeacrevi/forAuthor.html.
Students from Rutgers-Newark interviewed Dr. Bah on the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire. Watch the YouTube video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJQtS0jElW8
Editor and one of the cofounders of the international journal African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review: http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublication?journalCode=africonfpeacrevi
Horn of Africa discussion: http://www.niutoday.info/2011/09/27/niu-faculty-to-discuss-horn-of-africa/
Monique Bernoudy
Associate Athletics Director for CHAMPS/Life Skills, Huskie Athletics
Links
Travels to Mombasa, Kenya to volunteer for the Mombasa Relief Initiative (MRI). Has been volunteering for 10 years: http://www.niuhuskies.com/genrel/041310aac.html
http://mombasarelief.com/index_mri_aboutus.html
Paul Crawford
Director of Community College Relations and PASCAL Initiatives, OEIT
Manages the North American node for PASCAL, an international organization focused on community development in regions and has participated in PASCAL and UNISA work in South Africa.
Joanne Dempsey
former President, Econ Illinois, an NIU-based state organization.
Econ Illinois educates K-12 teachers to help educate students become economically astute.
Links
Worked on several school projects in South Africa on behalf of the National Council on Economic Education: http://www.niu.edu/northerntoday/2008/june2/dempsey.shtml
Travelled to South Africa in 2008, 2009, 2010, & 2011
http://www.niu.edu/icee/international_11.shtml
http://www.niu.edu/icee/international_10.shtml
http://www.niu.edu/icee/international_09.shtml
Currently co-leading new project in Western Cape, South Africa to develop a collaborative model for economic development through economic and entrepreneurship education. Just returned from visit to target area to meet with South African partners; program implementation scheduled to start February 2013.
Ryan Dowd
Instructor, Educational Leadership, Psychology, and Foundations, COE
Dowd works with churches, primarily in Africa, that are confronting governments that commit human rights abuses.
Links
Served as an international election observer for the 2008 elections held in Ghana, West Africa: http://www.niu.edu/law/enotes/Enotes_March09.html
Maylan Dunn-Kenney
Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education, COE
Participated as a volunteer and with NIU students in community development in a rural Kenya organized by Moses Mtuku. Supports teachers and parents interested in developing better educational opportunities for children in the village.
Links
Helped with the Kenya Literacy Project, founded by the late NIU professor Moses Mutuku.
http://www.cedu.niu.edu/~mutuku/kenyaProject/index.shtml
Jon Furr
Director, Office of Education System Innovation; P-20; OEIT
Works with Link Community Development, an international NGO that seeks to improve the quality of education in African countries. Link collaborates with ministries of education and district offices in Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, and Malawi. Recently submitted grant proposal to MacArthur Foundation to implement a web-based school performance reporting system in a Uganda district. Also working with various partners to coordinate Illinois STEM education strategies with partners in sub-Saharan Africa.
Link
http://www.lcdinternational.org/lcd_international/our_mission.htm
Courtney Gallaher
Assistant Professor of Geology
Major Interests
Research on urban agriculture in Kenya.
Laverne Gyant
Director, Center for Black Studies; associate professor, Adult Higher Education, COE
Major Interests
African American women and the contributions and participation of African Americans in adult education, as well as Black Studies, African American Historiography, African Americans in Education, African American Women, Civil Rights Movement, Reparations.
Links
Directed NIU study abroad program in Ghana in 2012:
http://www.niu.edu/studyabroad/programs/NIU-admin/docs/NIUinGhana1.pdf
Stephen Haberkorn
Assistant Coordinator of Clinical Experiences, COE
Researching a writer from Uganda
Spent four summers in Africa (Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa) mainly supporting schools for orphans
Patricia Inman
Research Associate, Center for Governmental Studies, OEIT
Major Interests
Sustainable agriculture, young women's leadership initiative
Mitch Irwin
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, CLAS
Major Interests
Ecological strategy of a primate species, substantial shifts in diet, ranging and spatial ecology in an endangered species of lemur inhabiting forest fragments, examining changes in nutritional ecology, physiologic health and the prevalence of disease and parasitism.
Recent Publications
Crowley BE, Godfrey LR, Irwin MT (2011) A glance to the past: Subfossils, staple isotopes, seed dispersal and lemur species loss in southern Madagascar. American Journal of Primatology 73:25-37.
Links
Started SADABE, an NGO with Karen Samonds:
http://www.sadabe.org/whatis.html
Promoted the coexistence of humans and wildlife in Madagascar:
http://www.cooplamaisonverte.com/en/node/1732
Discovered an elusive species of lemur:
http://phys.org/news189973417.html
Michelle Lilly
Assistant professor of Psychology, CLAS
Recent publications
Lilly, M.M., & Graham-Bermann, S.A. (2009). Ethnicity and risk for symptoms of posttraumatic stress following intimate partner violence: Prevalence and predictors in European American and African American women. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24(1), 3-19.
Ismael Montana
Assistant Professor of History, CLAS
Major Interests
African History, Colonial Empires, Global, Religion
Publications
Montana, Ismael, Paul Lovejoy and Behnaz Mirzai Asl, ed., Islam, Slavery and Diaspora, New Jersey: Africa World Press, 2008.
“Ahmad Ibn al-Qadi al-Timbuktawi on the Bori Ceremonies of Sudan-Tunis,” in Paul E. Lovejoy (ed.), Slavery on the Frontiers of Islam (New Jersey: Marcus Weiner Publishers), 2003, 173-179.
Links
Grant from the British Library to conserve historical documents in northern Ghana:
http://www.niutoday.info/2010/08/20/recent-grant-awards-to-niu-faculty/
Discussion on women’s roles in the importing of African goods: http://www.niutoday.info/2011/02/24/women-on-the-move/
The final speaker at the World Damba Festival 2012:
Jane Rose Njue
Assistant Professor of Family and Child Studies, CHHS
Hosted a ‘Peace Forum” for local Kenyans:
http://www.niu.edu/northerntoday/2009/feb25xtra/kenya.shtml
Keynote speaker at the Pan-African Family Strength International Conference in Mombasa, Kenya:
http://www.chhs.niu.edu/fcns/resource/files/2011Resourse.pdf
Andrew Otieno
Associate Professor of Technology, CEET
Major Interests
Machining analyses/experimental studies; Micro-machining; Automation; Finite element modeling, Structural health monitoring, Machine Vision applications.
Links
Advisor of Engineers without Borders:
http://www.niu.edu/CEET/news/features/ewb.shtml
Connected with Tanzania Development Support (TDS) and Kurt Thurmaier:
http://www.niutoday.info/2012/05/16/take-a-step-and-breathe/
Founded an all-girls school in Kenya with Teresa Wasonga:
http://www.niutoday.info/2011/05/16/engineering-major-embarks-on-african-odyssey/
http://www.niutoday.info/2011/04/20/niu-students-build-transport-for-third-world/
Presentation: Jane Adeny Memorial School for Girls, Kenya
Lyndon Perkins
Director of Graduate School Recruitment and Student Support Services
Has received several awards and prides himself for his work in Africa.
He has been traveling to Ghana every year since 1990, primarily working on building schools and daycare centers. Recently, he has been traveling to Africa as part of his job recruiting potential NIU graduate students.
Deborah Pierce
Associate Provost for the Division of International Programs
Link
Officer for NAFSA, the world’s largest nonprofit professional association dedicated to international education:
http://www.niutoday.info/2011/10/24/deborah-pierce-named-to-key-nafsa-post/
Paid for NIU’s institutional membership in the West African Research Association: http://www.warc-croa.org/wara.htm
Tracy Rogers
Executive Director of Illinois Geographic Information Systems Association, Center for Governmental Studies, OEIT
Links
Lived/worked in Malawi for three years (for U.S. Dept. of State).
Currently co-leading new project in Western Cape, South Africa to develop a collaborative model for economic development through economic and entrepreneurship education. Just returned from visit to target area to meet with South African partners; program implementation scheduled to start February 2013.
Susan Russell
Anthropology, CLAS
Major Interests
Initiating a Center for Pace and Conflict Studies in Africa and Asia with Abu Bah.
Karen Samonds
Assistant Professor of Biology, CLAS
Major Interests
Comparative anatomy, systematics, and biogeography with field paleontology to address topics in vertebrate evolution
Recent Publications
Samonds KE, Parent SN, Muldoon KM, Crowley E, and Godfrey LR (2010). Rock matrix surrounding subfossil lemur skull yields diverse collection of mammalian subfossils: Implications for reconstructing Madagascar’s paleoenvironments. Malagasy Nature 4, 1-16.
Links
Travel to Madagascar:
http://www.uq.edu.au/sbms/staff/karen-samonds
Study on prehistoric pygmy sea cows: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091212-pygmy-sea-cow/
Diversity of life in Madagascar:
http://www.earthtimes.org/nature/madagascar-worlds-apart/1878/
Scot Schraufnagel
Director of Graduate Studies, Political Science Department, CLAS
Major Interests
U.S. Congress, political parties, elections, and state government, with an emphasis on promoting a civil, representative, and effective legislative process in the United States.
A former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Sierra Leone, West Africa
Published Work
DeFour, Henry, and Scot Schraufnagel. 1985. Sierra Leone Fisheries: An Extension Workers Manual. Freetown, Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone Government Press.
Federico Sciammarella
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, CEET
Links
Sabbatical work with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa: http://www.csir.co.za/
NSF grant to support a workshop on research and education in advanced manufacturing between Northern Illinois University and the CSIR in the Republic of South Africa: http://www.niutoday.info/2010/10/29/recent-grant-awards-to-niu-faculty-3/
Advancing Africa’s technology:
Diana Swanson
Associate Professor of Women's Studies and English, CLAS
Major Interests
19th and 20th century British Fiction, Feminist Theory, Women’s Studies
Recent Publications
“British Imperialism in Africa: Leonard Woolf, M.W. Swanson, and the Role of Civil Bureaucracy.” Virginia Woolf Miscellany 72 (2007): 47-49. Special issue on Leonard Woolf, ed. AnnMarie Bantzinger.
Links
Worked with Teresa Wasonga and Andrew Otieno on the Jane Adeny School for Girls:
Presentation: Jane Adeny Memorial School for Girls, Kenya
Kurt Thurmaier
Professor and Director of Division of Public Administration
Major Interests
Public Budgeting and Finance, Intergovernmental Relations, Comparative Public Administration and Research Methods.
Links
Planning a study abroad course for 2013:
http://www.niu.edu/studyabroad/programs/NIU-admin/docs/TanzaniaExperientialLearningPD11.pdf
Climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro:
http://www.niutoday.info/2012/06/28/the-mountain-teaches-you-patience/
Cofounded Tanzania Development Support (TDS):
http://www.niutoday.info/2012/05/16/take-a-step-and-breathe/
http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/RELEASES/2009/apr/tanzania.shtml
Teresa Wasonga
Associate Professor of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations, COE
Major Interest
International education
Links
Founded the Jane Adeny Memorial School in rural Kenya: http://www.niutoday.info/2011/11/29/school-launched-by-niu-professors-provides-hope-transforms-lives-of-girls-in-rural-kenya/
Presentation: Jane Adeny Memorial School for Girls, Kenya
Fund-raising for a science lab for the school: