USA Africa Dialogue Series - Dr. Emmanuel Mbah: Junior Scholars Excellence Award

Junior Scholars Excellence Award 2012
 
  Emmanuel M. Mbah was born in Mamfe-Manyu Division of the South-West Province of the Republic of Cameroon. He is now Assistant Professor of History at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island. 
       Mbah earned his B.A. and M.A. in History in 1992 and 1994, respectively, from the University of Yaounde, Cameroon, and was admitted to the History Doctorate Program of the University of Yaounde in 1995. After passing his comprehensive exams in 1998, he relocated to the United States for research.
       In 2003, he began doctoral study in the Transatlantic History Program of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he obtained his Ph.D. in May of 2006. His dissertation, entitled "Land/boundary conflict in Africa: The case of former British colonial Bamenda, present-day North-West Province of the Republic of Cameroon, ca. 1916-1996," was nominated by UT-Arlington for the 2007 Council of Graduate Schools/University Microfilms International Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Humanities.
       Mbah taught at the University of Texas at Arlington in 2005 and 2006, and has been Assistant Professor at the College of Staten Island (CSI)/City University of New York since 2006. At CSI he has taught courses in African history, colonialism, historical methods, and contemporary African issues.
In 2007 Dr. Mbah and three colleagues were awarded the Michael Ribaudo Information Technology Award from CUNY for the Global Virtual Classroom, which allows students at CSI to link to higher education institutions in other countries. "These institutions share students, faculty, lectures, curricula, and technology through a variety of technologies such as videoconferencing, email, Internet chat, and the Blackboard classroom management system, which provides students with access to class materials online." Through this innovative program, CSI students communicate with their counterparts at Kahir Das University in Turkey, Shanghai TV University in China, the American University in Rome, the American College of Thessonaliki in Greece, and Rhodes and Metropolitan universities in South Africa. CSI was one of the first ten colleges nationwide to receive support from the US Department of State to participate in the program.
       Dr. Mbah's stature in the classroom and commitment to his students was further recognized in 2010, when he was nominated for the CSI Dolphin Award for Teaching Excellence. In addition to teaching many classes, he has served as a mentor to five graduate students, four of whom have presented papers at the Africa Conference at the University of Texas at Austin.
        Dr. Mbah is the author of Land/Boundary Conflict in Africa: The Case of Former British Colonial Bamenda, Present-Day North-West Province of the Republic of Cameroon, 1916-1996, which was published in 2008. He has contributed chapters and articles to a number of publications, including the African Journal on Conflict Resolution and several edited volumes. For four years in a row (2007-2010), Dr. Mbah was awarded the PSC-CUNY Research Award, in addition to summer research and travel awards. In 2010 and 2011 his accomplishments in scholarship were formally recognized by the university (CSI).

        Dr. Mbah's current research focuses on conflict, ethnicity, and the socio-economic and political life of Africans in colonial and postcolonial Africa.

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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712-0220
USA
512 475 7224
512 475 7222  (fax)
http://www.toyinfalola.com/
www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa
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