Dr. Stephen Howard Director

Dr. Ghirmai Negash Assistant Director

Before joining the Institute's staff, Ghirmai Negash was a facultymember in the Ohio University Summer Cooperative African Language Institute and Institute for the African Child Summer Workshops. Previously he was the Head of the Department of Eritrean Languages and Literature at the University of Asmara in Eritrea, which he helped to establish. He is the author of A History of Tigrinya Literature in Eritrea (1999), Nay Deresti Naznet (“The Freedom of the Writer”, 1993) , and Who Needs a Story? Contemporary Eritrean Poetry in Tigrinya, Tigre and Arabic (with C. Cantalupo, 2005), with more titles forthcoming. He specializes in postcolonial theory, orature, and applied linguistics. Negash earned degrees in English studies and African literature in the Netherlands and lived and taught there for 16 years. 

International Advisory Board:

Ms. Firdoze Bulbulia,
African Children's Broadcasting Foundation   South Africa

Justice Unity Dow
The High Court   Botswana

Mr. Jeffrey L. Gray
OIC (Opportunities Industrialization Centers International,
Inc)  Philadelphia, PA

Dr. Asma Abdel Halim
Emory University   Atlanta, GA

Mr. Thomas Mapfumo
Musician   Zimbabwe

Dr. Prisca Nemapare
Nutritionist   Zimbabwe

Dr. Kole Shettima
MacArthur Foundation   Nigeria