Spectrum - Volume 18 Issue 06 September 28, 1995 - Mazrui guest speaker at Global Issues Forum
A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including
The Conductor
, a special section of the
Spectrum
printed 4 times a year
Mazrui guest speaker at Global Issues Forum
By Clara B. CoxSpectrum Volume 18 Issue 06 - September 28, 1995
Internationally noted Africanist Ali A. Mazrui, who wrote and narrated the nine-hour BBC series "The Africans: A Triple Heritage" and holds chaired professorships at three universities, will be the guest speaker at Virginia Tech's first Global Issues Forum on October 12-13.
Sponsored by the University Office of International Programs in collaboration with the Virginia Tech African Studies Association, African Students Association, International Club, and Cranwell International Center, the forum will get under way at 7:30 p.m. on October 12 in Squires Colonial Hall with Mazrui discussing "Africa in Crisis: The Passions, The Problems, and The Prospects."
Mazrui will speak again on October 13 on "Africa's Triple Heritage Re-Examined: Indigenous, Islamic, and Western Legacies." That talk will be held in 150 Squires at noon. Both talks are open to the public.
"Dr. Mazrui is probably the most prominent political thinker on and from Africa today. We are fortunate to have him speak at our first Global Issues Forum and hope the university community and the local community will take advantage of this opportunity to hear a world-renowned speaker, writer, educator, and thinker," said Patrick R. Liverpool, vice provost for international programs.
Mazrui, who has written more than 20 books and a novel, is the Albert Schweitzer professor in the humanities and director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at State University of New York at Binghamton, the Albert Luthuli professor-at-large in humanities and development studies at the University of Jos in Nigeria, and senior scholar and the Andrew D. White professor-at-large at Cornell University.
He has served as head of the Department of Political Science and dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and professor of political science and director of the Center for Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan. He also has been a visiting scholar at numerous universities throughout the world, including Stanford, Chicago, Colgate, Singapore, Australia National, Oxford, Harvard, Bridgewater, Cairo, Leeds, Nairobi, Tehran, Denver, London, Ohio State, Baghdad, McGill, Sussex, and Pennsylvania. He has lectured on five continents and served as a special advisor to the World Bank in Washington.
Mazrui, who holds a master's degree from Columbia University and a doctorate from Oxford, has been involved in a number of UN projects on topics ranging from human rights to nuclear proliferation. He edited Volume VIII-Africa since 1935 -of the UNESCO General History of Africa and has served on the editorial boards of more than 20 international scholarly journals.
He has served as president of the African Studies Association of the United States and vice president of the International Political Science Association, the Council of the International African Institute in London, the International Congress of African Studies, and the Royal African Society in London.
For additional information, contact Ken Eriksson at 1-4680.