Dean Porfirio Goes Global

Assistant Dean Vincent Porfirio will be spending the summer of 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa through Harvard University’s Center of International Development through the Albert N. Husted Fellowship and funding provided by The Sage Colleges. He will be conducting a quantitative research study with a team of other volunteer/researchers from around the globe.

By looking at three diverse districts in the Cape Town area and residing with students and their families, Vincent hopes to get a better perspective on educational settings within the country. Not only will the team be doing research but they will be traveling around South Africa to experience the country (primarily the Western Cape Province) as a whole. Additionally, Vincent will be presenting his research at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Join the conversation! Here are a few recommended readings (a more extensive list can be furnished to you upon request).

Dean Porfirio’s Book Picks:

“Long Walk to Freedom” Nelson Mendela (1995)

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela’s destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader. (Donald Woods, Sunday Times)

“Cry, The Beloved Country” Alan Paton (1948)

In search of missing family members, Zulu priest Stephen Kumalo leaves his South African village to traverse the deep and perplexing city of Johannesburg in the 1940s. From the fierce love of Kumalo to the persuasive rhetoric of Kumalo’s brother and the solemn regret of Absalom, Paton injects soul into characters tempered by their socioeconomic status as black South Africans.

“Bring Me My Machine Gun” Alec Russell (2009)

Award-winning journalist Alec Russell was in South Africa to witness the fall of apartheid and the remarkable reconciliation of Nelson Mandela’s rule; and returned in 2007-2008 to see Mandela’s successor, Thabo Mbeki, fritter away the country’s reputation. South Africa is now perched on a precipice, as it prepares to elect Jacob Zuma as president—signaling a potential slide back to the bad old days of post-colonial African leadership, and disaster for a country that was once the beacon of the continent.

Have other recommendations? Please share by posting in the comments section.