Gustavus Hosts Fulbright Scholar for 2015-2016 Academic Year

The Gustavus Adolphus College African Studies Program is excited to announce that Fulbright Scholar Rosemarie Mwaipopo will be teaching at the College during the 2015-2016 academic year.

Mwaipopo holds a doctoral degree in social anthropology from the University of Cape Town and teaches courses in human ecology, the environment and development, gender and culture, and social research methods at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Her extensive research and consulting work have covered gender issues in Tanzania, poverty and vulnerability, human interaction with natural resources, and the constitutional review process. Most recently, she served as a member of the Tanzania AIDS Commission from 2012 to 2015.

Mwaipopo is currently teaching a course titled “People and Cultures of Africa” in the Gustavus Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She will offer a January Interim Experience class and will teach a course during the spring semester. Mwaipopo also plans to organize a faculty seminar focusing on Africa and schedule lectures at some colleges and universities in the region.

“Our students will benefit greatly from this opportunity to learn more and to appreciate the cultures of Africa,” African Studies Program Director Paschal Kyoore said. “Through her teaching, her lectures, and her interaction with students and members of the community at large, Dr. Mwaipopo will help us enhance our knowledge of the complexities of the socio-political structures that characterize the African continent.”

Each year, roughly 800 faculty members and professionals from around the world receive Fulbright Scholar grants for advanced research and college lectureships in the United States. Participants are chosen based on academic merit and leadership.

“The award of a Fulbright scholarship to Gustavus is a testimony to the College’s status as a liberal arts college that places a great deal of importance on international education,” Kyoore said.

The Fulbright Program is named after Senator J. William Fulbright and is sponsored by the United States Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Council for International Exchange of Scholars supports the administration of the Fulbright Scholar Program for faculty members and professionals.