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Ohio Wesleyan’s 2011 Sagan National Colloquium to Focus on Africa
Fall Lecture Series to Examine Issues of Governance, Equity, Global Citizenship

March 14, 2011

DELAWARE, OH – Ohio Wesleyan University’s 2011 Sagan National Colloquium will focus on “Africa: Governance, Equity, and Global Citizenship.” This fall, guest speakers will discuss the transition from authoritarian regimes to multiparty competition, democratic principles, and good governance in various African nations. The schedule of speakers and topics will be announced this summer.

With the end of apartheid in South Africa and the discovery of oil on other parts of the continent, Africa is poised for the third wave of accelerated economic development, regional economic cooperation, and genuine democratic reform.

“Africa, as a continent, has been understudied and misunderstood—in spite of the remarkable progress made since independence in the early 1960s,” said Randy Quaye, Ph.D., director of Ohio Wesleyan’s 2011 Sagan National Colloquium. “The colloquium will provide a forum for students, faculty, and the general audience to examine, thematically, issues affecting the continent and, in the process, help dispel some of the negative stereotypes about the continent.”

Quaye also is an associate professor of Black World Studies, director of the Black World Studies Program, and director of the Ohio Wesleyan in Tanzania Program—a semester-long study abroad course currently occurring in Tanzania. This fall, Quaye will teach a colloquium-related course that will explore Africa in depth.

OWU faculty and students also will participate in three travel-learning courses about Africa in 2012: “Nation Building in Ghana,” “Translational Research in Psychology” (Tanzania), and “and “Biology of East Africa” (Tanzania and Kenya). In addition, the Ohio Wesleyan in Tanzania Program will be held during spring semester 2012.

Currently, 22 OWU students come from various African nations including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

Each year, Ohio Wesleyan’s Sagan National Colloquium addresses an issue of international importance. It is funded through an endowment from the late Margaret (Pickett) Sagan and the late John Sagan, both members of the OWU Class of 1948.