Usap Forum 2008 Speakers
Below are the biographies of the main speakers at the Usap 2008 Forum.
Ishmael Baeh, Author and Activist
Eduardo D. Glandt, University of Pennsylvania
Dominic Muntanga, Human Services Council of New York City
Ishmael Baeh
Author and Activist
Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone in 1980. He moved to the United States in 1998 and finished his last two years of high school at the United Nations International School in New York. In 2004 he graduated from Oberlin College with a B.A. in political science. He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and has spoken before the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities (CETO) at the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory, and many other NGO panels on children affected by the war. His work has appeared in VespertinePress and LIT magazine. He lives in New York City.
For information on The Ishmael Beah Foundation, including how to make a donation, click here. [Information courtesy of www.alongwaygone.com]
Eduardo D. Glandt
University of Pennsylvania
Eduardo D. Glandt is the Robert D. Bent Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and also the Dean at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He earned his B.S., Chemical Engineering at the University of Buenos Aires in 1968 and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at University of Pennsylvania in 1977. He has received numerous awards and honors for teaching both locally and abroad in addition to his intriguing research published in several publications which can be found here.
Dominic Muntanga
Human Services Council, New York City
Dominic Muntanga is a Disaster Preparedness and Response Coordinator and Lobbyist for the Human Services Council of New York City. After growing up in Victoria Falls, Dominic Muntanga left Zimbabwe in 1998 after winning the Zimbabwe United World College Scholarship to study in Wales, United Kingdom. He came to the United States as one of the first Shelby M.C. Davis United World Scholars in 2000. Dominic is passionate about public service and has worked as a Special Assistant to the Borough President of Manhattan and Campaign Advisor to New York City democratic Mayoral Candidate, C. Virginia Fields.
Dominic is the founder of the Council for Zimbabwe and currently serves as Co-Director of Kalai Foundation, working to provide financial and material resources to promising low-income students and educational organizations in Africa. He is also one of the founding members of Tonga Online - an award winning media, ICT, art and culture project focusing on the Tonga people living along the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Dominic has worked with various NGOs such as the Prague-based Students Forum, St Donats Arts Center (UK), and the Austria Zimbabwe Friendship Association. He holds a Masters in Non-Profit Organization Management from Washington University in St. Louis.