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Africa scholar addresses American-Ethiopian relations

by Margaret von Steinen

Oct. 21, 2011 | WMU News

Photo of Assefa Mehretu.
Mehretu
KALAMAZOO--Dr. Assefa Mehretu, a professor of geography at Michigan State University since 1977, will speak on "Partners for Progress and Modernization: American-Ethiopian Relations" at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, in Room 2028 of Brown Hall at Western Michigan University.

Assefa Mehretu

Originally from Ethiopia, Mehretu has taught and conducted research in Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau and Zimbabwe in collaboration with the World Bank and as a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

In addition to teaching at MSU, he has served as associate director of that university's African Studies Center and as director since 1992 of its Rome Social Science Program in Italy. His research interests include African development, regional development, and theories and patterns of socioeconomic marginalization in the United States with particular reference to Michigan.

Mehretu has received the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, research fellowships from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, and various MSU grants to support field work in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. He has written numerous books, journal articles and other scholarly works and has taught courses in world geography, regional development, economic geography, location theory and integrative studies in social science.

Mehretu's talk is being hosted by the WMU Center for African Development Policy Research and cosponsored by WMU's Light Center for Chinese Studies; departments of Anthropology, Economics, Foreign Languages, Geography, History, Political Science and Sociology; Office of Diversity and Inclusion; Center for the Humanities; and Haenicke Institute for Global Education.

For more information about Assefa Mehretu's talk, contact Dr. Sisay Asefa, director of the Center for African Development Policy Research, at sisay.asefa@wmich.edu or (269) 387-5556.