Dean Shannon Marquez Visits the Nairobi Center

Nairobi: Dr. Shannon Marquez, the dean of undergraduate Global programs Columbia University, accompanied by Dr. Fay Ju, the Associate Dean of the center for undergraduate engagement together with Dr. Meg Booth, the Associate Director of the center for undergraduate engagement visited the global center early this year on January 6^th 2020. Their visit to the Center served as an exploration tour in preparation for a new global program that will be carried out throughout the region. This is in line with Columbia University’s strategic vision to incorporate global experience for their undergraduate global engagement through internships, research, and service-learning, education through real-life community problem solving, as well as global courses. This will in turn also support partnership across the undergraduate schools and promote global engagement activities and will help to provide an opportunity to strengthen connections, and share experiences and learning from different academic perspectives, including the professional schools.

The group on their visit to the center had a short meet- up with Mr. Maximilian Mancini, an alumnus from Columbia University who has a start-up firm in Kenya. In their discussions on ways to collaborate with the University, they suggested on the creation of internship opportunities especially for the Health students from Columbia University as the start-up is quite major in public health. This will thus, in turn, go ahead a long way in building technological platforms in public health and will engage service providers and the public. In support of this, Dr. Shannon Marquez pointed out that there has always been quite a strong interest from Columbia University’s health students in participation to matters appertaining to global health, therefore the creation of this collaboration will be an added plus for it will greatly assist in their learning and will also, in turn, go ahead and create a healthy sharing platform.

In their aim to develop a strategic vision to incorporate global experience for their undergraduate global engagement program in Kenya, they held talks with Equity Group foundation’s general manager Dr. Beth Waweru. AMREF International University’s vice-chancellor to Kenya, Prof. Marion Mutugi. And Mr. Sean Anderson, the Founder, and Director of  EDU Africa. They then visited Mpala Ranch in Laikipia before departing to Rwanda.