George Mason University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences is pleased to announce the arrival of Fulbright Scholar-In-Residence, Amobire Akolga. Akolga joins the Global Affairs Program from the University for Development Studies in Ghana, where he teaches in the Department of Political Science.
This semester Akolga is teaching GLOA 101: Introduction to Global Affairs in Fall 2024. In Spring 2025, he will teach GLOA 396: Actors in Global Governance, a course that examines the inception of international organizations and their roles in governance, and GLOA 599: World Culture, War, and Peace, a graduate seminar that focuses on the influences of globalization on conflict and world peace. Both courses are open to all students at George Mason.
Cortney Hughes Rinker, professor and director of the Global Affairs Program, is thrilled that Akolga chose to join the program.
“We are honored to have Professor Akolga teach and work with students at George Mason. His expertise nicely adds to that of the program faculty,” she said. “His teaching and research bring in refreshing and critical perspectives to studies of globalization and helps us provide students and the community a holistic view of global processes and flows, as well as their diverse impacts and challenges.”
Akolga is an expert in political science, especially surrounding the challenges and prospects of contemporary global governance architecture and the role of Africa. His research focuses on Africa's quest for global governance reforms, regionalism, and the African democratic trajectory. He described his past semester teaching as an experience that encompasses the core of global affairs. “I have a class with students that represent the core of what I teach—globalization … students with different racial and multinational backgrounds that add color to the class, especially during discussions,” he said.
The Fulbright Scholarship program supports the internationalization of universities across the world and diversification of curriculums. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 talented and accomplished students, scholars, teachers, artists and professionals of all backgrounds with the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad. Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, with funding provided by the U.S. Government.
November 19, 2024