Micere Mugo: Professor of Literature

Micere Githae Mugo is a writer, activist, and academic. Born in Kenya, she received her BA from Makerere University, a teaching diploma from Nairobi University (PGDE), and an MA and PhD from the University of New Brunswick, Canada. In 1980 she was elected the first woman faculty dean in Kenya, possibly in all of Africa.

Her political activism against government human rights abuses, however, led to arrests, police harassment, and several remands for interrogation. In 1982, she was forced into exile with her two young daughters.

She is now a professor in the Department of African American Studies at Syracuse University. Mugo, a distinguished poet, is the author or editor of fifteen books and is frequently anthologized. Founder and President of the Pan African Community of Central New York, she initiated volunteer programs in two prisons, has been an official speaker for Amnesty International and a consultant for the "Africa on the Horizon" series by Blackside.

She consults for a number of foundations; is on the editorial board of many journals including Transition, African Commentary, Third World in Perspective, and African Women; and was until recently chairperson of the board of directors of SARIPS, the Southern Africa Regional Institute for Policy Studies in Harare.

Source:http://www.wworld.org/about/board/micere_githae_mugo.htm