Director

Steve Howard Director, African Studies Director, The Institute for the African Child Professor, School of Media Arts and Studies (740)593-1834 howard@ohio.edu Ph.D., (Sociology and African Studies) Michigan State University M.A., Michigan State University B.S., Georgetown University

Dr. Howard’s research over the last two decades reflects a deep commitment to understanding the ethical, cultural, and political challenges facing African scholars, particularly those from historically marginalized communities.  His recent leadership in focusing the OU academic community’s attention on critical issues of health and development in Africa has inspired new research and curricular innovations on the part of faculty from several colleges. Dr. Howard has more than 30 years of experience in collaborating with African institutions and scholars.  Dr. Howard’s experience in program management includes his administration of the U.S. Department of Education designated National Resource Center (NRC) for African Studies at Ohio University since 1994.  The success of the Center was reflected in the renewal of NRC funding in 2006 with a new four-year grant of $2.1 million. As Director of the African Studies Center, Dr. Howard provides leadership for Africa programming across the University.  He administers an MA and BA degree granting unit of 31 faculty members across 6 Colleges of the University.  At the Center, he is responsible for supervising 3 staff members and 15 graduate student employees.  He also serves as an academic advisor to 35 degree candidates.  He currently supervises university linkages in Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, and Swaziland. In 1998, Dr. Howard founded the Institute for the African Child, an interdisciplinary research and training program to promote the progressive development of children and their families across the African world.  As founder and Director of the Institute, he is responsible for fundraising, faculty and staff coordination, conference planning, and summer workshop development between 5 colleges at Ohio University. He convenes an annual conference and edits a Working Papers Series.

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