Dear Members of Dehai, all Eritrean Professionals and Scholars in the
Americas, and Friends of Eritrea:
Greetings!
The Board of the Association of Eritrean Professionals and Scholars in the
Americas (AEPSA) had its first meeting in February 22,1997 since the
Eritrean Summer Festival. At this meeting, we elected new officers and
charted projects that, with your help, plan to implement. The purpose of
this post is to inform you of the projects either initiated or underway and
invite you to actively participate as well as solicit your ideas and
support in carrying out the projects.
AEPSA's PROJECTS:
(1) Assist the University of Asmara (UA) in Recruiting Teaching Faculty.
AEPSA has been requested by the UA to identify and do the
necessary professional evaluations of candidates who are interested to
spend short- or long-term engagements with the University. These
engagements may include: summer leave, sabbatical leave, leave of absence
or permanent relocation. This process helps the University in its planning
of faculty needs and expectations. So, if you are interested or if you
know some one who might be interested in this engagement, please let us
know ahead of time so that we can help in facilitating matters.
(2) Curriculum Development and Review.
Another project of AEPSA is to assist the University in curriculum
development and review. This activity may be carried out off site or by
site visit. This is an extremely important and a rewarding experience. If
you have the experience and you are interested in this activity, please
let us know so that we could add your name to our data-base of experts in
this activity.
(3) Presentation of Seminars, Workshops and Training Sessions.
In this activity, AEPSA is involved in initiating and organizing
seminars, workshops, conferences and training sessions in Eritrea as well
as in North America. In addition, if any one or group of you is (are)
interested in giving a seminar, workshop or a training session during your
visit to Eritrea, we will make all the necessary contacts and arrangements
with the appropriate government agency or agencies or the University. Such
programs have to be well planned and organized for maximum effectiveness,
and the presenter will be expected to be well prepared with the necessary
materials for distribution to the participants. More importantly, the
content of the presentation should be of significant value to the intended
beneficiaries.
AEPSA also plans to organize seminars, panel discussions and
conferences on relevant and timely issues on Eritrea in North America and
Canada. For example, two panel discussions are being proposed for the
Annual Meeting of the Association of African Studies. We will keep you
posted when the proposals are approved. We also plan to sponsor a panel
discussion during our Eritrean Summer Festival, as well as conducting
virtual panel discussions through the internet, as has been initiated by
Amanuel Melles. If you have any ideas or topics that you want us to
consider for panel discussion, please contact Amanuel Melles, chair of the
Committee (e-mail address: aa608@freenet.toronto.on.ca ).
(4) Procurement of Scholarship/Training Opportunities.
This activity involves doing leg work for creating linkages between
AU and universities in the U.S. and Canada. The linkages are expected to
result in faculty exchanges and providing graduate education and short-term
training opportunities. Eritreans or friends of Eritrea who are associated
with universities could be particularly instrumental in this endeavor.
Securing a scholarship or scholarships for graduate students from the UA
will go a long way in alleviating the faculty shortage in the University.
An excellent example in this regard is the efforts of Kifle Gebreab who
has been instrumental in securing scholarship opportunities for six
graduate students from AU to attend Atlanta Clark University to study
physics and chemistry. Kifle has proven to the rest of us that it is
do-able. We would like those who are affiliated with universities to
contact us so that we can share ideas on procedures of creating linkages
and securing supports for graduate education.
(5) Mobilization of Materials for Teaching.
This activity involves soliciting assistance of teaching materials
such as: books, computers, videos, laboratory tools and equipment. All of
us are potentially capable of playing a role in this activity. We would
like people to take the initiative to approach publishers and potential
donors who can help us in securing books in large quantities , such as
publishers of text-books who may donate their old editions when they
replace them with new ones. Let us tell you of another excellent example
that has occurred. Dr. Haile Mezghebe, a Board Member of AEPSA, was
successful in procuring 1600 sets of wall encyclopedia, each set consisting
of 22 volumes, that was donated by International Book Bank. The
encyclopedia has been shipped to Eritrea recently. Imagine, every
library, every faculty's office in the University and beyond will have its
own set of encyclopedia. That is indeed wonderful. Dehai's efforts in
mobilizing funds for computers for the Engineering Program is another good
example. AEPSA has also established an endowment fund of financial reward
to UA students who excel academically. A standing committee is in place to
explore funds for this purpose. Please contact Belay Demos
(demoz@climate.gsfc.nasa.gov ) and Haile Mezghebe on this matter. If you
have any ideas on the project (mobilization of materials for teaching),
please contact Asmelash Gebregziabher, Board Member and liaison of this
activity. Since we are in the process of forming a standing committee for
this activity, and you are interested to be a member of the committee, we
would like to hear from you.
(6) Youth Development Program.
AEPSA is very much interested to play a supporting role to the
Eritrean Youth programs in the Americas. Many of you are aware of the
existence and activities of these groups and some of you are already
involved one way or another. We can be of tremendous service to these
groups in so many ways, such as: academic and career advising, mentors,
participating in youth oriented panel discussions, contributing articles
for their newsletters, writing recommendation letters, legal counseling,
etc. Because of the nature of this program, many people in different
geographic locations can be involved. At the moment, we are in the process
of updating our list of volunteers who are interested to work with youth
groups in their respective geographical areas. Interested individuals,
youth/student groups as well as Eritrean Community Centers with
youth-oriented programs are encouraged to contact Thomas Mebrahtu , AEPSA
Liaison for Youth development ( e-mail address: mebrahtu@seas.upen.edu
Phone: 215-361-7484).
(7) Development of a Data-base of Eritrean Professionals and Scholars.
Development of a data-base of professionals and scholars, we
believe, is important. We see the data-base as a source of information of
expertise and experiences. The data-base could also be an excellent source
of information for international organizations who may want to contact
Eritrean experts for consulting services on a fee basis. What we have in
mind is to include a brief abstract explaining one's experiences and
special expertise of those willing to be included in the data-base.
It is obvious that AEPSA cannot accomplish all the projects it
plans to do without the active participation of all who could help. We
would, therefore, like to extend our sincere invitation for your active
participation in whatever capacity you can. AEPSA can only be as strong as
all of us can make it to be.
We are looking forward for your support, active participation and
constructive criticism. Thanks for reading this far.
Sincerely,
Araya Debessay & Kiflai Geberemedhin
Co-chairs, AEPSA
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