Alumni, professors and students met Saturday afternoon to celebrate Ohio University’s 50 years of relations with Africa.
OU’s African Studies Program held a panel of five professors currently researching and teaching about Africa to emphasize the importance and strength of OU’s ties to Africa.
This year was the first year the African Studies Program hosted an event during the Black Alumni Reunion, said Steve Howard, director of the African Studies Program.
“I think our own alumni of this university should recognize that we have a strong African Studies program, and it needs the support of the alumni to be sustained,” Howard said.
When OU began planning the Black Alumni Reunion during spring semester last year, Howard said he began contacting professors from the program who have studied various regions and topics of Africa.
“I wanted variety (in panelists), and I wanted, in some cases, professors who were literally black alumni of Ohio University,” Howard said.
The panelists ranged from professors in the fields political science and history to community health and English.
Brandon Kendhammer, an assistant professor of political science, presented on his studies of Nigerian politics and how the religious divide between Islam and Christianity effect the democratization of Nigeria.
In his presentation, Kendhammer said he was surprised by how often he ran into Nigerian alumni of OU, formed by a partnership between Nigeria and OU that began in 1958, before Nigeria gained its independence.
“When I came to OU, I was aware of OU’s tremendous African Studies program, but I was not aware of OU’s connection in Nigeria,” Kendhammer said.
As an alumni and current faculty member at OU, •Assan Sarr, an assistant professor of history, said he continued studying here because of OU’s powerful reputation in the African community.
“I’ve met Africans from a number of different countries, and I didn’t meet people from those countries when I was back in Africa, so that shows you the kind of effort that the African Studies program has provided,” Sarr said.
Although she did not come to OU for its African Studies program, Jenna Cripps, a junior studying anthropology and global studies with a focus on African studies, said she has heard from other professors of the strength of OU’s African Studies program.
“I’ve talked to a lot of professors from other universities and OU always gets very high compliments,” Cripps said.
Sarr said he thinks OU’s relationship with Africa is a valuable resource to give students a better understanding of global relations.
“Africa is an important part of the global community,” Sarrs said. “The students that we serve in the community here will benefit great from increasing their aware of the (world’s) relationship with Africa.”
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