Winners Announced in Loogman Faculty Research Grant Competition

The Center for African Studies has named four winning projects for its 2014-2015 Rev. Alphons Loogman, C.S.Sp., Faculty Research Grant competition.

This year’s winning projects are:

  • Managing the Mental Health Impact of Migration: Emphasis on Ethiopian Migrants in the Middle East
    Dr. Waganesh Zeleke, assistant professor, Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Education, School of Education
  • The Roots of Song in Jazz: Folk Songs of the Ga and Ewe Explored through Composition and Transcription
    Dr. Joseph Sheehan, assistant professor, Mary Pappert School of Music
  • General and Special Education Teachers’ Professional Development Needs in Selected Southern African Countries
    Dr. Morgan Chitiyo, associate professor and program director, Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Education, School of Education, and Dr. Elizabeth Hughes, assistant professor, Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Education in the School of Education
  • Assessment of Library Collections and Services at the Spiritan University College, Ghana
    Terra Merkey, music librarian, Gumberg Library.

The grant was named for Loogman, a professor of Swahili at Duquesne in the early 1960s who helped to establish Duquesne as a noted center of African studies during his tenure. In recognition, the grant supports scholarly research that reflects the University’s strategic commitment to a closer relationship with the nations and peoples of Africa. The competition is open to all full-time faculty members working in any discipline on campus. Grant awards of $4,500 may be used as summer research grants and/or as support for research over a specified period of the academic year.

“The Loogman grant extends the opportunities offered to faculty by the Center for African Studies to do research in African studies and on issues related to the University’s commitment in that regard,” said Dr. Gerald Boodoo, director of the Center for African Studies. “It is meant to stimulate and encourage research that will result in a corpus of high-caliber publications generated by the University community.”

Applications for the 2015-2016 competition are due by Friday, March 13, 2015, and award winners will be announced on Friday, April 10. Complete details regarding the application process are available on the Center for African Studies’ website.