The African Studies center promotes collaboration and partnership with many institutions in higher education including community colleges and historically black colleges and universities. The center also focuses on internationalizing teacher education, collaborative study abroad initiatives, and houses MSU's African Media Program.
Beginning in 1987, the African Studies Center began developing special relationships with two consortia of Michigan community colleges: the Michigan Global Awareness Consortium (8 rural community colleges) and Michigan Community Colleges for Global Education (29 member institutions), and since 1994 with the Midwest Institute for International and Intercultural Education (MIIIE).
Working with these consortia, the outreach program provides workshops, faculty development opportunities at MSU, participates in consortia conferences, co-sponsors two summer institutes each year, and provides material support for the development of Africa-related curricular units across the curriculum. In 2006 the ASC co-sponsored with MIIIE a GPA to Ghana for community college faculty.
The ASC has worked with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) since the 1980s to provide opportunities for faculty and students to enhance their expertise on and opportunities to study Africa on their own campuses and, through special student and faculty study abroad programs, on the African continent. The ASC has an ongoing commitment to seek out opportunities to strengthen our collaborative programming with HBCUs.
To reach the next generation of K-12 educators, the African Studies Center is helping develop international materials and content for infusion in TE 250: Human Diversity, Power, and Opportunity in Social Institutions. This course is one of only four compulsory College of Education undergraduate courses in teacher education, and is the first internationalized compulsory course of teacher trainees offered by a major college of education in the U.S. This unique project addresses a long-time gap in the efforts of National Resource Centers to reach perspective teachers.
Building on this partnership the African Studies Center has worked closely with the Global Educators Cohort Program (GECP) that was established by the MSU Department of Teacher Education in 2010 in the development of Africa programing for students (including study abroad programing in Africa) and mentor-teachers, including a one-week summer institute for mentor teachers who host GECP intern teachers in their classrooms.
The African Media Program povides a searchable database of more than 12,000 films and videos on Africa. Users are able to access a wide variety of data on each film/video, including reviews, recommendations on viewing audiences (including use K-16 education), and distributor information. The database is particularly helpful for college professors seeking appropriate films to show in their humanities, social science, and natural science courses.
The African Studies Center, along with the MSU Office of Study Abroad, initiated a collaborative study aboard project with the Council of Opportunity in Education (COE). The Washington DC-based COE is the national consortium of federal TRIO programs which serve students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds on more than 1,000 campuses throughout the U.S. This collaboration provides opportunity for TRIO students nationwide to participate in MSU summer and semester programs in Africa.
In 2003, and again in spring semester 2005, the African Studies Center was awarded Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad funding to sponsor 30 TRIO students from approximately 20 colleges/universities to study for an entire semester in MSUs semester programs in either Durban, South Africa or Dakar, Senegal.
In 2009 the ASC collaborated with other MSU units on a U.S. State Department-funded program to enhance study abroad programming at HBCUs.
The African Studies Center sponsored the National Consortium for Study in Africa beginning in 2000. MSU was an active participant until 2010.
Summer Language Program
Afripod
Eye on Africa
African Tea Time
