Mr. Roger Meece, an alumnus of Michigan State University, is a Career Member of the Senior Foreign Service who spent most of his career in Africa. Substantively in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo as US Ambassador, and later as U.N. Special Representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Earlier in his career, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone and worked in different Peace Corps assignments in several African countries including Peace Corps Country Director in Gabon. He currently chairs the Foreign Service Retirees Association of Washington State.

The Meece Graduate and Undergraduate Awards are established to honor Mr. Roger Meece’s unwavering dedication to diplomacy and peacekeeping and to encourage excellence in African Studies.

Graduate Student awardees: 1st prize $500, 2nd prize $300;
Undergraduate Student awardees: 1st prize $300, 2nd prize $150

Who can apply

Any MSU graduate or undergraduate students in any discipline or field enrolled in an African Studies Course (at least 50 % African content) can apply. The paper/project should not exceed 8,000 words, excluding tables, bibliography etc. (suggested length is 2,500-6,000 words) and should focus on issues related to the study of African nations and peoples – including governance, health, society, gender, science, development, education, environment, communication, and language. It also must be written/created to fulfill a course/degree requirement during the previous academic year (papers/projects submitted for the 2022 competition should have been written/made during Fall semester 2021, or Spring semester 2022). One submission per year/per student.

How to apply

For paper and project submissions, fill out and submit application form below. For projects that cannot be sent digitally, bring print materials and a coversheet detailing the context of the project (name, major, minor if applicable, name of instructor, course number, and academic term/year) to the office of the African Studies Center, 102C International Center. Whether you are submitting a paper or a project, it is highly recommended, but not necessary, to include a support letter, from the course instructor for whom the paper/project was produced, commenting on the quality and significance of the paper/project. The submission window is from September 1st to January 15th.

Selection Process

A committee of Core Faculty representing diverse disciplines will select the winning papers/projects.
Criteria for judging the papers for the Award:

• Clear statement of purpose of the paper
• Significance of contribution to the literature
• Originality of thought
• Clarity of thought and quality of writing
• Quality of coverage of the topic and of analysis
• Adequacy of the bibliography and/or endnotes or footnotes

No awards will be given if the committee believes there are no submissions to merit an award.