Ohio Wesleyan Professor Elected President Of International Organization
Emmanuel Twesigye
DELAWARE, OHIO – Ohio Wesleyan University religion professor Emmanuel K. Twesigye, Ph.D., has been elected president of the newly formed Developing Education (DevEd) for Africa organization, based in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The organization seeks to develop new initiatives in education for Africa,” said Twesigye, who joined the Ohio Wesleyan faculty in 1989 “These initiatives and pilot programs will include elementary, high school, and university programs and curricula that will better promote rural development and offer more opportunities for self-employment, development, prosperity and general well-being.
“The mission of the organization,” Twesigye continued, “is rooted in the principle that a good and relevant education is the main foundation for Africa’s democracy, political as well as socioeconomic stability, economic development, improved health, general well-being, and lasting peace.”
The group’s first pilot project will occur in Northern Uganda, Twesigye said, which continues to recover from 23 years of civil war between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda.
Twesigye, also an Anglican/Episcopal priest, lived and worked in Uganda until 1977, when he fled to the United States to escape the regime of President Idi Amin. At Ohio Wesleyan, he serves as the Benedicts Professor of Christian Studies in the Department of Religion. He also has served as the director of Ohio Wesleyan’s Black World Studies Program and is the past president of the Ohio Academy of Religion. He earned his doctorate at Vanderbilt University. He also holds degrees from the University of East Africa; Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; Wheaton College Graduate School; and University of the South.
Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier small, private universities, with more than 90 undergraduate majors, sequences, and courses of study, and 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Located in Delaware, Ohio, just minutes north of Ohio’s capital and largest city, Columbus, the university combines a globally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities that translate classroom theory into real-world practice. OWU’s close-knit community of 1,850 students represents 47 states and 57 countries. Ohio Wesleyan was named to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction, is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” and is included on the “best colleges” lists of U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. Learn more at www.owu.edu.