‘Africa Rising’ topic of seventh annual Maxwell-Roddey lecture

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, vice chancellor of the United States International University-Africa, will address “Africa Rising: The Role of Higher Education and the Diaspora” at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 8, in the Rowe Arts Building, Room 130. This free, public talk is the seventh Bertha Maxwell-Roddey Distinguished Africana Lecture, sponsored by the Africana Studies Department.

Zeleza is considered a leading African and Africanist public intellectual who combines groundbreaking scholarship with innovative academic administration and institution building, both in Africa and North America. He recently was named the vice chancellor (president) of the United States International University-Africa in Kenya. Previously, he was the vice president of academic affairs at Quinnipiac University. Before that, he was dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts and presidential professor of African American studies and history at Loyola Marymount University (2009-13).

A graduate of the University of Malawi, Zeleza earned a master’s degree from the University of London, where he studied African history and international relations. He holds a Ph.D. in economic history from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. His academic work is wide ranging, from economic and intellectual history to human rights, gender studies and diaspora studies.

He also is a literary critic, writer and blogger at “The Zeleza Post.” Zeleza has published more than 300 journal articles, book chapters, reviews, online essays and short stories. He is author/editor of 26 books, several of which have won international awards, including Africa’s most prestigious book prize, the Noma Award. His works include “A Modern Economic History of Africa,” “Manufacturing African Studies and Crises,” “Barack Obama and African Diasporas: Dialogues and Dissensions” and “In Search of African Diasporas: Testimonies and Encounters.”