Esteemed African Geographer "Florence Margai has passed on"
Florence Margai (nee Lansana), 52, Associate Dean of Harpur College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Geography at Binghamton University, died Thursday, Jan. 8, following a brief illness.
Professor Florence Margai was born on November 6, 1962 in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She graduated from Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone with a BA (Honors) in geography. She came to the United States for graduate studies and earned her MA (1987) and PhD (1991) degrees in geography from Kent State University in Ohio. From 1991 to 1994, she was a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Geological Sciences at Hunter College, New York City. In 1994, Margai joined the faculty at Binghamton University where she taught courses in her areas of specialization. These included Advanced Statistics and Spatial Analysis, Environmental Hazards and Health, Environmental Analysis, Health Geographies, and Environmental Health Disparities. During her time at Binghamton, she rose to the rank of full professor, served as co-chair and chair of the Department of Geography, associate dean of the Graduate School from 2011 until 2013, and was the current associate dean for research and graduate studies in Binghamton University's Harpur College and the interim director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies (IGCS), once headed by the late, distinguished Africanist scholar Ali Mazrui. Margai's international, national and local contributions are extensive and influential. In addition to her research-informed public advocacy work with the Food Sense Program, she held other leadership positions in serving the Binghamton city community.
An "exceptional academic" and acclaimed scholar Florence Margai's research interests revolved around the use of geospatial technologies to map and assess environmental hazards and negative health outcomes. Margai's past and recent research projects include studies of Malaria Morbidity and Treatment Approaches in West Africa, Food Insecurity and Childhood Health in Burkina Faso, Toxic Exposures and Low Birth Weights, and the Linkages between Lead Poisoning and Learning Disabilities in Urban Communities. In the early 1990s, she initiated work on childhood lead exposure patterns in Binghamton, NY, and the implications for childhood development and learning. Among her collaborative research is a project involving the use of geo-statistical approaches to evaluate the prevalence of pediatric blood lead poisoning in Chicago, IL. The project ssesseds the spatiotemporal dynamics of the disease, and identified the racial and ethnic profiles of high risk communities. Margai also completed extensive research on environmental injustices, specifically, the disproportionate concentration of hazardous substances in low income and minority communities, and health inequalities.
She is the author of Environmental Health Hazards and Social Justice: Geographic Perspectives of Race and Class Disparities (2010, Earthscan Ltd.). She has also authored and co-edited three other books and numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals including Journal of World Health and Population, Social Science & Medicine, Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health, and the Professional Geographer. Her substantial professional involvement ranged from NSF Grant Reviews and Program Reviews to serving on the MyCOE (My Community, Our Earth) Fellow-Mentor Program as a key team leader for West Africa. She was on the editorial boards of WAGADU: A Journal of Transnational Women's and Gender Studies and the African Geographical Review.
In addition to her academic achievements and scholarly activity her service to the field of geography was outstanding. Professor Margai had over 20 years of exemplary service in various capacities to the Africa Specialty Group (ASG) of the Association of American Geographers (AAG). She served as Chair of the Africa Specialty Group, and as editor of the journal, African Geographical Review (AGR). The group recognized her contributions with the Kwado Agyemang ASG service award. A past ASG Chair, Francis Owusu described Florence as "a friend and mentor to many ASG members who will be solely missed by all who knew her."
Professor Margai was currently serving as a member of the AAG Council. In a statement about the tragic news to AAG Council members and Geography Department Chairs in the United States, Doug Richardson, Executive Director of the AAG notes with great sadness that: "as friends and colleagues, we honor her memory and contributions to geography and beyond". He points out that Florence is "a wonderful person, a talented academic, and pioneer in many ways. Just last year, she helped us run one of AAG's workshops in Ghana, and was praised by all those involved".
Margai was respected for her collegiality and worked closely with others on many AAG projects. She was one of the pioneers in organizing the first stand-alone Race, Ethnicity, and Place (REP I) Conference, held at Howard University in 2004. A prevalent reaction to the sad news is that Florence Margai is a "tremendously talented geographer whose passing is an enormous loss to our discipline." Over the course of her distinguished career, she worked with several non-profit organizations in African countries and the United States to assist with the geographic targeting of vulnerable population groups for disease intervention and health promotional campaigns. Examples include the INDEPTH Network (Ghana), MALAMED (Sierra Leone), and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. What stands out in all of these studies is how Professor Margai effectively employed geo-data tools and technologies such as spatial statistics and GIS for comprehensive health risk assessments.
One example of the volume of accolades from Margai's students, mentees, peers, friends and others applauding her for being an "exceptional teacher, researcher, mentor, colleague, and friend" comes from Dr. Adam Mathews at Oklahoma State University. There are plans by Professor Florence Margai's professional colleagues to organize subsequent memorial events during the forthcoming annual meetings of the American Association of Geographers (AAG) in Chicago, April 21-25 and by her colleagues and friends in Binghamton. Florence Margai is survived by her husband, William, and two daughters. Florence embodied excellence and grace.
Cherished friend, highly respected and dedicated colleague. We lament the loss of a stellar African scholar.
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