USA Africa Dialogue Series - Professor Bessie House-Soremekun: Distinguished Public Service Award

Professor House-Soremekun is the 2012 recipient of the Distinguished Public Service Award at the Africa Annual Conference, University of Texas at Austin. The Distinguished Public Service Award is for scholars with considerable managerial and administrative skills whose decisions have impacted on the way we all do our work.  

DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC SERVICE AWARD, 2012

Professor Bessie House-Soremekun was awarded her Ph.D. (1988) and M.A. (1980) from the Joseph Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver.  She earned her B.A. (1978) in English from Huntingdon College. She also has earned her International Technology Analysis and Management Certificate in 1991. Additionally, she was a Political Science Exchange Student at the University of Tuebingen, West Germany, from 1979-1980.  Her research interests are African Politics and Global Economy, Women in Politics, International Political Economy, and Minority Entrepreneurship.
  Professor House-Soremekun is currently Director of Africana Studies at Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis, where she has also held positions as Professor of Political Science and Africana Studies. Additionally, she is a Public Scholar in African American Studies, Civic Engagement and Entrepreneurship and was the Founding Executive Director for the Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development at Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis (IUPUI).  Professor House-Soremekun has also chaired the Distinguished Speakers Series and the African and African American Studies Committee, both at IUPUI.  Amongst her extensive professional service she has served as Vice President and Program Chair for Women and Minority Division, United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship; served as Chair of two sections on African Economic Development and Women and Development Studies; and is a member of American Political Science Association, African Studies Association, and the Association of Afro-Life and History.
  She is the recipient of multiple academic grants and fellowships, such as The Cleveland Foundation, a Federal Grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the City of Cleveland Empowerment Zone, the Mahoning Youngstown Community Action Partnership, the New Perspectives in Humanities Grant, and  including several from Kent State University for both teaching and research, such as the Kent State University Teaching Development Award, Kent State University Research Council and the Kent State College of Arts and Sciences.
        She has lectured and taught in many celebrated universities, including her current position at Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis and as a Public Scholar in African American Studies, Civil Engagement, and Entrepreneurship.  She has also lectured and taught at Kent State University (1989-2007); Metropolitan State College (1989); University of Denver (1988-1989); and the University of Nairobi Institute of Development, Kenya (1985).
     Professor House-Soremekun has also been very active beyond academics. She hosted a television show on Adelphia Channel 20 entitled "Let's Talk Business." She has established several centers and programs, such as the Center for the Study and Development of Minority Businesses at Kent State University, 1998-2007; the Entrepreneurial Academy for Greater Cleveland, 2000- Present; the National Center for Entrepreneurship, Inc., 2006- Present; Youngstown Entrepreneurial Academy, 2007-Present; and the Center for Global Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development at IUPUI, 2010- Present.
     She has numerous publications including books, articles, reviews and conference papers.  Of her many works her books in print are Class Development and Gender Inequality in Kenya, 1963-1990; and Confronting the Odds: African-American Entrepreneurship in Cleveland, Ohio, which won the Henry Howe Book Award. Edited books include African Market Women and Economic Power: The Role of Women in African Economic Development; Globalization and Sustainable Development in Africa; and Gender, Sexuality, and Mothering in Africa.  Several of her more recent Book Chapters and Journal Articles include "Revisiting the Micro and Small Enterprise Sector in Kenya"; "Entrepreneurship and Neighborhood Among African Americans in Cleveland, Ohio," with David Kaplan; "Marketing"; and "The Impact of Minority Set-Aside Programs on Black Business Success: Implications for Public Policy." She is also currently working on two documentaries in collaboration with the Public Broadcasting Station (PBS): "Confronting the Odds:  A Documentary on Black Entrepreneurs in Cleveland" and "Confronting the Odds: A National Documentary on Black Entrepreneurs Across the United States."

She is now highly regarded as one of the best African American scholars in the study of entrepreneurship, the application of knowledge to practical use, grant writing, and community organizing.
      

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Toyin Falola
Department of History
The University of Texas at Austin
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