ACADEMICIANS

Prof. ALI MAZRUI

Ali A. Mazrui was born in Mombasa, Kenya, on February 24, 1933. Mazrui obtained his B.A. with Distinction from Manchester University in England, his M.A. from Columbia University in New York, and his doctorate from Oxford University in England. He is the Chair of the Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy (CSID).He is now Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities and Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University, State University of New York. He is also Albert Luthuli Professor-at-Large in the Humanities and Development Studies at the University of Jos in Nigeria.

He is Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large Emeritus and Senior Scholar in Africana Studies at Cornell University and lbn Khaldun Professor-at-Large, Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, Leesburg Virginia. He was Walter Rodney Professor at the University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana (1997-1998).For ten years, he was at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, where he served as head of the Department of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and from where he launched his professorial career. He once served as Vice-President of the International Political Science Association and has lectured in five continents.

Professor Mazrui also served as professor of political science (l974~l99l) and as Director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (1978-1981) at The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.He has also been Visiting Scholar at Stanford, Chicago, Colgate, Singapore, Australia, Oxford, Harvard, Bridgewater, Cairo, Leeds, Nairobi, Teheran, Denver, London, Ohio State, Baghdad, McGill, Sussex, Pennsylvania, etc. Dr. Mazrui has also served as Special Advisor to the World Bank. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the American Muslim Council, Washington, l).C., and is chair of the Board of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Washington, D.C. He is also on the Board of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

*********************

Prof. ABDALLA BUJRA

Prof. Abdalla Bujra, is a Kenyan national who obtained his doctoral degree in Social Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University London. He is a founding Director of the Development Policy Management Forum, an Independent Pan-African Organisation based in Nairobi, Kenya and also hosted by the UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia DPMF was founded in 1995.The current Chairman of the African Union (AU), His Excellency, President John Kufuor of Ghana, has appointed Abdalla Bujra as a member of the Panel of Eminent Africans, which has been established to advise on how to improve the African Union. The AU Panel of Eminent Africans comprises 13 prominent African personalities in totalProf.

Bujra served as the Executive Secretary of the "Management of Science and Technology for Development in Africa” (MANSCI) in 1990. In 1991 he was a visiting Professor at the Institute for Global Cultural Studies, Directed by Professor Ali Mazrui, at Binghamton, NY State. In 1992 he joined UNDPs African Futures project (NLTPS) based in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, as an expert in Sociology and Human Resources Development in a 5 member regional team.Between 1998-2000, he was assigned to the OAU in Addis Ababa to serve as CEO of the International Panel of Eminent Personalities (IPEP) which was mandated to investigate the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. IPEP produced a 300 page Report on the Rwanda genocide which was distributed to the OAU Heads of States at their Summit in 2000. IPEP was set up by the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the OAU.Prof. Bujra is also one of the founders of the Dakar-based CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Economic and Social Research in Africa). He became the first full-time Executive Secretary of CODESRIA from 1975 to 1988. He started the now famous CODESRIA journal, Africa Development and other CODESRIA publications – especially books. In addition he was also involved in fund raising activities for the research programme, conferences and publications.

In 1992, along with President Mbeki's father and Samir Amin, Professor Bujra was honoured with the CODESRIA award of a Distinguished African Social Scientist in Institution Building.Prof. Bujra is currently Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Nairobi based African Centre for Economic Growth (ACEG) and is the founding Executive Director of Development Management Policy Forum (DPMF) a pan-African NGO hosted at the UNECA in Addis Ababa with an office in Nairobi Kenya.Presently (2006-2007) he is leading a team of researchers studying Social Policy, Development and Governance in Kenya". He is also part of a research team studying “Land Policy, Development and Governance in Kenya". Both these projects are funded by the Ford Foundation, East Africa Office.Prof. Bujra has served as a team leader in research initiatives in Africa during the last 30 years, during which period he has actively participated and led international workshops, seminars and conferences in Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America, Middle East, India and South East Asia.

He is /has been a member of various professional bodies such as the Africa Committee of the American Social Science Research Council, the Paris based International Social Science Council (ISSC) of UNESCO and the Social Science Committee of the Tanzanian National Scientific Research Council. He was elected and served for two terms in all the three Committees.As an academic and scholar, Prof. Bujra has taught in various universities around the world. His teaching expertise includes supervising senior researchers and graduate students (PhD and MA) in academic institutions.

***************************

Prof. Abdulgaful H.S. El Busaidy
Academic qualifications:
1.Dr. ing (Ph.D.) in Applied Physical Chemistry - Electrochemistry/Thermodynamics - University of Trondheim - NTH - Norway (1972 - 1975): Ph.D. thesis: Factors Affecting Corrosion Behaviour of Steel in Concrete Exposed to Marine Environment. 2. BSc. (Honours) Class II Division I specializing in Chemistry and Mathematics with subsidiary Physics - University of Nairobi , Faculty of Science (1969-1972). 3. University Entrance Examination, Kenya Science Teachers College (1968 - 1996).