The University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars Program brings early-career faculty members from Africa to the university’s Ann Arbor, Michigan, campus to participate in research, take classes, give lectures, and work with mentors. This year there are 15 African faculty members at the University of Michigan.
One of this year’s African Presidential Scholars is Mariam Boakye-Gyasi. She is taking a leave of absence from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana to conduct research on finding new ways to administer drugs to malaria patients who are unable to swallow pills.
Ignatius Ticha is another African Presidential Scholar who is using the time to research and write scholarly articles on the depictions of poverty in African and Irish literature. He is a senior lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa.
Linda Fondjo, a faculty member at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana is using her time at the University of Michigan to learn research methodologies in molecular biology that she can take home to continue her research on female reproductive health.
The program is now in its seventh year. Not only does the program help the African scholars but provides University of Michigan faculty with valuable contracts at universities in Africa that can benefit their research and lead to enhanced study abroad opportunities for University of Michigan students.
