More News stories about new IAS Director

African Studies at Columbia
Mamadou Diouf, the incoming director of the Institute of African Studies at the School of International and Public Affairs, is visiting campus this week in anticipation of his appointment this coming summer.Diouf, a professor of history and African-American and African studies at the University of Michigan, said he was looking forward to taking over the institute, which has been without a director since 2004. In May, SIPA Dean Lisa Anderson temporarily suspended the institute because of funding and staffing issues. In a meeting Friday, Columbia administrators will formally introduce Diouf to students. While student leaders stated that they were excited about the appointment, they said Diouf would need support and that they could not be the sole providers of that support."I'm extremely excited about his being appointed," said Christabel Dadzie, SIPA '07 and president of the SIPA Pan-African Network. "He wants to make Africa part of the discussion. We have someone who knows what he's talking about."Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks said that while regional studies at Columbia have already begun to gain from a more sociopolitical and economic perspective, Diouf would help "catalyze" the interdisciplinary study Africa required."Professor Diouf will be one of the key architects of that reality," he said. "This is a several-part effort now, which of course is to reopen the African Institute, reinvigorate it, provide resources for it, connect better outside the University."He added that he'd like to avoid the understaffing that tugged on former director Mahmood Mamdani's efforts: "We still have to hire quite a number of faculty."Diouf said he was eager to try to tap into the financial and educational resources Columbia, New York, and Africa itself could offer the institute."It's great-this is a great place to be," he said, adding that the institute will connect with students in nearby universities and Africa. For the full story: http://www.columbiaspectator.com/media/storage/paper865/news/2006/12/08/News/African.Institute.Director.To.Visit-2529705.shtml?norewrite200612090927&sourcedomain=www.columbiaspectator.com

GREAT NEWS!! IAS GETS A NEW DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,For those of you who have not seen this, I would like to draw yourattention to the announcement about the hire of a Director for theIAS. Again, thanks to everyone for all your efforts. This isdefinitely the beginning of greater things to come for AfricanStudies in Columbia.
Best,Christabel DadziePresident, SPAN

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Mamadou Diouf, West African Scholar, Selected to Lead Columbia'sInstitute of African Studies.Bollinger hails Diouf's hiring as a critical step forward inUniversity's work on AfricaOn December 7th, Columbia University President Lee C. Bollingerannounced today that Mamadou Diouf, a renowned West African scholarand historian, has been hired to lead Columbia's Institute forAfrican Studies at the School of International and Public Affairs.Diouf will also become a faculty member in Columbia's Department ofHistory."We are delighted to have someone of Mamadou Diouf's extraordinarytalents and admired scholarship to join us and take on theleadership of our Institute for African Studies," said Bollinger."His hiring is an important step toward fulfilling our goal ofmaking Columbia the foremost center for teaching and research, inboth theory and practice, on Africa—its history and culture, itspolitics and economics, its challenges in public health andextraordinary human potential."Diouf will join Columbia on July 1. He is currently a member of thefaculty at the University of Michigan in the Department of History,where he also serves in the Center for Afroamerican and AfricanStudies.For the complete article:https://cubmail.cc.columbia.edu/horde/util/go.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.columbia.edu%2Fcu%2Fnews%2F06%2F12%2Fdiouf.html&Horde=f9315f1827a3daa3206c89acd1b0a45d