Student Honors:

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Jacob Butler, 2011 African Studies Grad, received a Fulbright ETA, and will be going to South Africa in January of 2013. He will teach at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
 

 

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Rick Deja (PhD candidate - Musicology; African Studies), has been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) fellowship for 2012-2013. He will spend six months each in South Africa and Malawi working with musicians who regularly tour the region of southern Africa. Through his research, he seeks to examine how musical style and practice shape notions of social allegiance such as citizenship and other community ties.

 

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Mor Gueye, Ph. D. candidate, Education, was mentioned in the list of excellent teachers ranked by their students in Spring 2012 for the Wolof 202 course. He also:

  • Completed the Graduate Teacher Certificate with the Center for Teaching Excellence (April 2012)
  • Is teaching Wolof in a volunteer after-school program at Booker T. Washington Elementary school in Champaign. His classes include grades ranging from Kindergarten to grade 4. This is part of his goal of trying to extend the teaching of African languages and culture beyond the university environment. He is also participating in the One-to-One mentoring program at Urbana Middle School for this academic year, his first experience of doing such an activity in the U.S.

 

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Fay Hodza, who received his Ph.D. last year in Human and Community Development, is now a lecturer in Sociology as well as Head of Department at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

 

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Former U of I African Studies student Ahmed Aali Salem announced the release of his second book, What is constructive about realism: Constructivist Critiquing of the Realist Paradigm in International Relations. Dr. Salem has also been appointed the assistant director of the Institute for Islamic World Studies at Zayed University, United Arab Emirates.

 

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Having completed a second master's degree in African Studies and a Library and Information Science certificate in Special Collections, Rebecca Vaughn recently accepted a position as Collections Manager at the Monroe County History Center in Bloomington, Indiana. The position has proven to be a challenging yet rewarding experience in managing a diverse collection of artifacts and archives. Rebecca's primary responsibilities include record keeping pertaining to acquisitions, deaccessions and loans. Rebecca also works with the collections assistant, student interns and volunteers in coordinating projects relating to cataloging, preservation, processing backlog items, and collections research. She has recently joined the organization, Alliance of Bloomington Museums, and has had the opportunity of working with staff from the Indiana University Archives and Sage (textile) Collection. Drawing from her experiences in African Studies, Rebecca hopes to expand upon the History Center's community outreach initiatives and focus on engaging underrepresented communities in an effort to highlight their narratives.

 

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Tseleq Yusef,  Ph. D. candidate, Education, received a Summer Block I fellowship from the department of Education.