Anonymous Donor Provides Funds for UofM Students to Study Abroad

Jasmine Morton

An anonymous donor will provide funding for 16 University of Memphis students to

participate in the African and African American Institute study abroad program in Ghana this

summer.

Along with the university students who are chosen to go to Ghana, six faculty members

will go, Dennis Laumann, Beverly Bond, Beverly Cross, Ladrica Menson-Furr, Brian Wright and

Earnestine Jenkins. There is also a group of six high school teachers from the Memphis City

School System who is going.

According to the study abroad website, this program is based on the Ethiopian proverb,

Those who learn must teach. The 16 students who are chosen will come back to Memphis and

teach a group of high school students about the things they learned while in Ghana. The donors

goal was for the university students to be able to pay it forward.

I like that this program engages university faculty, university students, high school

teachers and high school students learning and sharing together, said Beverly Cross, Moss Chair

of Excellence in Urban Education. It takes the university beyond the campus.

It is usually hard to get enough students to apply for this program due to the costs and the

fact that most of them are trying to work during the summer. Dr. Beverly Bond, Associate

Professor of History, said that within the decade that this program has been at The University of

Memphis, normally about 10 students apply, and the most students who have participated were

probably about 13.

 Thanks to this generous donation, finance is not much of an issue for students who want

to travel to Ghana and learn, said Dr. Dennis Laumann, Associate Professor of African History

and the director of the program.

He said that it has been exciting developing this program without worrying about how

students are going to pay for it.

The grant came about through a connection that Cross had who wanted to meet with

someone from the African and African American studies department. The donor met with Bond

and decided to fund the trips to Ghana as well as the two-week institute for the high school

students.

Dr. Brian Wright, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, said this program is

a wonderful opportunity for university students to take what they have learned so far and apply it

internationally. The privilege to be selected to participate in a study abroad program will enrich

and expand their knowledge, he said.

The students have not been selected, but they will go through an interview process soon.

Johnny Hayes, senior African and African American studies and philosophy major, said

that he is excited about the program. He recently participated in the Afro-Cuban History and

Culture spring break program, and he said that it was great to experience another culture.

I really appreciate the donor, because I would not be able to finance this whole program

otherwise, Hayes said.

LaTerryan James, senior English and African and African American Studies major, said

that being chosen to be a part of this institute would be an experience of a lifetime.

It would be a great opportunity to help the youth and expand their perceptions of the

world outside of Memphis, he said.

 James is also looking forward to experiencing Ghana, because his sister recently studied

abroad in Africa. She is a student at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and she visited

Cape Town, Zimbabwe and Johannesburg. While she was there she dumped some of their step

fathers ashes on Clifton Beach.

I feel like part of my heart is in Africa now, James said.

Laumann said that this trip would be the highlight of a students education. Ghana has

strong connections with American history going back to the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and

recently.

One of the things that we will do in Ghana is visit the grave of W.E.B Dubois who lived

the last years of his life in Ghana, he said.

Laumann is excited that the university students will share their experience with local high

school students.

Hopefully that will enrich the learning of high school students and inspire them to study

abroad when they go to college, he said.