AFUSI Events

Africa – U.S. Forum: Africa and Freedom of Expression

Date and Time: Monday, April 22, 2024 at 9 am EST

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus 1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

To RSVP online attendance, please click HERE.

To RSVP in-person attendance, please email junghwak@usc.edu

Africa – U.S. Forum: Africa Engages the Diaspora

Date and Time: Monday, March 25, 2024 at 9 am EDT

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus 1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Miles K. Davis, Vice Chancellor at Wigwe University, Nigeria
• Asad el Malik, Director of the Diaspora Project,  African Center for the Study of the United States, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Krista Johnson, Professor and Director of the Center for African Studies, Howard University, United States
• Nii Simmonds, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center
• Ernest J. Wilson III, Professor, USC Annenberg  School for Communication and Journalism and Founder and Director, USC Center for Third Space Thinking

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa – U.S. Forum: Africa Engages Global Powers

Date and Time: Monday, February 26, 2024 at 9 am EST

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus 1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Wonbin Cho, Associate Professor Comparative Politics, African Politics, Sungkyunkwan University, South Korea
• Hannah Ryder, Chief Executive Officer, Development Reimagined and Senior Associate (Non-Resident), Africa Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Sanusha Naidu, Senior Research Fellow,  Institute for Global Dialogue, South Africa
• H.E. Hilda Suka-Mafudze, African Union Ambassador to the United States of America

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa – U.S. Forum: Telemedicine, Remote Technologies and Healthcare in Africa

Date and Time: Tuesday, January 30, 2024 at 9 am EST

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Hussein Amin, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication and Director, Kamal Adham Center for Television& Digital Journalism, The American University in Cairo
• Miles Davis, Vice Chancellor, Wigwe University, Nigeria
• Joana Eva Dodoo, Lecturer with the Department of Business Programmes, University of Cape Coast, Ghana
• Bob Wekesa, Director and co-founder of the African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa’s Future Series: Technology, Innovation and the Digital Economy

Date and Time: Monday, December 4 at 9 am EST

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Kwami Ahiabenu, Founder, Pen + Bytes 
• Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Google
• Samuel Chigome, Senior Researcher, Nanomaterials Division, Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation
• Nii Simmonds, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center

To watch the full recording, please click HERE.

Africa’s Future Series: Digital Governance

Date and Time: Monday, October 23 at 9 am EST

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Bulelani Jili, Meta Research Ph.D. Fellow, Harvard University; Cybersecurity Fellow,  Harvard’s Belfer Center
• Samia Melhem, Lead Policy Officer, World Bank’s Transport and ICT Global Practice
• Elijah N. Munyi, Assistant Professor for Political Economy, United States International University in Kenya

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Liberia Election Insights: A Conversation with the Honorable Alexander B. Cummings

Date and Time: Tuesday, September 26 at 3 pm EDT

Online event 

Speaker:

• Alexander B. Cummings, Candidate for president in the Liberian 2023 General election

To watch the full recording, please click HERE

Africa’s Future Series: Business and Trade

Date and Time: Monday, September 25 at 9 am EDT

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus 1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Richard America, Professor of the Practice, Emeritus, Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
• Paul Clyde, President of the William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan
• Michael Finley heads Basketball Business Development for NBA Africa
• Ezekiel Odiogo, Head Private Sector Investment Operations, Africa Investment Forum, African Development Bank Group

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa’s Future Series: Climate Change

Date and Time: Monday, August 28 at 9 am EDT

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus 1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036 

Speakers:

• Ochieng’ Ogodo, Science Journalist and a Consulting Editor
• Ambassador Charles Ray, Chair of the Africa Program, Foreign Policy Research Institute

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa’s Future Series: Global Powers and Multilateralism

Date and Time: Monday, July 31 at 9 am EDT

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036

Speakers:

• Arhin Acheampong, Deputy Director, Afro-Sino Center of International Relations, Accra
• Priyal Singh, Senior Researcher, Institute for Security Studies Peace Operations and Peacebuilding Program, Pretoria, South Africa

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa – U.S. Forum: Kenya’s 60 Years of Independence

Date and Time: Wednesday, July 12 at 12:30 pm EDT

Location: University of Southern California Capital Campus 1771 N St NW, Washington, DC, 20036

Speaker:

-H.E. Ambassador Lazarus Amayo, Kenya’s Ambassador to the U.S.

Moderated by:

-Bob Wekesa, Deputy Director of the African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and a Visiting Fellow, USC Annenberg Center for Communication Leadership and Policy

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa’s Future Series: Africa’s Peace and Security

Date and Time: Monday, June 26 at 9 am EDT

Location: Room 602; Elliott School of International Affairs 1957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052

• Speakers:
  • Ibrahima Kane, Head, Africa Union Advocacy Program of the Africa Regional Office, Senegal
  • Gilbert Khadiagala, Director, African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
  • Margaret Monyani, Senior Migration Researcher, Institute for Security Studies, Pretoria, South Africa
  • Philip Oke-Thomas, Africa Policy Associate, Search for Common Ground, Washington D.C.
  • Kester Chukwuma Onor, Senior Research Fellow, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Nigeria

To read an article that was mentioned in the session, please click HERE

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa Day Open Forum

featuring Bob Wekesa, Inaugural Africa Visiting Fellow, USC Annenberg Center and Adam Powell III, Director, USC Annenberg Center Washington Programs 

Date and Time: Monday, Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 8:00 a.m. EDT

Location: Ralph J. Bunche International Center, Howard University and via Zoom

Moderated by Bob Wekesa, Inaugural Africa Visiting Fellow, USC Annenberg Center

To watch the full recording, please click HERE 

Africa’s Future Series: Africa’s Strategy Toward Global Powers

Date and Time: Monday, May 22, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Location: George Washington University (Room 602, Room 602, 957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052) and via Zoom

• Speakers:
  • Lee Kinyanjui, Former Governor of Nakuru County, Kenya
  • Sanusha Naidu, Senior Research Fellow at Institute for Global Dialogue, South Africa
  • Paul Nantulya, Research Associate of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Africa Center for Strategic Studies
  • James Shikwati, Founder and director of the Inter Region Economic Network, Kenya

To watch the full recording, please click HERE.

Africa’s Future: University Partnership

Date and Time: Monday, April 24, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Location: George Washington University (Room 602, Room 602, 957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052) and via Zoom

• Speakers:
  • Patrick Maluki, Senior lecturer and the Chairman of the Department of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi in Kenya
  • Rosemary Okello-Orlale, Director of Africa Media Hub at Strathmore University Business School in Kenya
  • Ousmane Sène, Associate Professor (Maîtres de Conférences) in the Department of English, University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, and the Director of the West African Research Center (WARC)
  • Steve Sharra, Associate Professor and Dean of the School of Education, Social Sciences and Technology, Unicaf University, Malawi
  • Degefa Tolossa, Professor of Geography and Development Studies, Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia

Africa’s Future: Trade and Investment

Date and Time: Monday, March 27, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EDT

Location: George Washington University (Room 602, Room 602, 957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052) and via Zoom

• Speakers:
  • Geoffrey Garrett, Dean of the Marshall School of Business and Professor of Management and Organization, University of Southern California
  • Afua Hirsch, Wallis Annenberg Chair in Journalism and Communication, University of Southern California
  • Caesar Mwangi, Executive Dean of Strathmore University Business School
  • Laird Treiber, Professorial lecturer at the Institute for African Studies, George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs

Africa’s Future: Democracy and Human Rights

Date and Time: Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EST

Location: George Washington University (Room 602, Room 602, 957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052) and via Zoom

• Speakers:
  • Ambassador Salah S. Hammad, Head of the African Governance, Peace and Security Architectures’ (AGA-APSA) Secretariat and the Senior Human Rights Expert within the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security of the African Union Commission
  • Honourable Commissioner Ourveena Geereesha Topsy-Sonoo, National of Mauritius, Member of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
  • Dr. Nikiwe Kaunda, Policy Manager – Africa at the Open Society Foundations

To watch the full recording, please click HERE.

The 2022 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit: Review and Forward-Looking

Date and Time: Monday, January 30, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. EST

Location: George Washington University (Room 602, Room 602, 957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052) and via Zoom

• Speakers:    
  • Professor Jennifer Cooke, Director, Institute for African Studies, George Washington University
  • Professor Krista Johnson, Director, Center for African Studies, Howard University
  • Professor Gilbert Khadiagala, Director, African Centre for the Study of the United States, University of the Witwatersrand
  • Gifty Obeng, Good Governance Africa Ghana representative
  • Adam Clayton Powell III, Director, Washington Programs, Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, University of Southern California

Africa’s Future: University Partnerships, Business, Tech & Open Diplomacy

Date and Time: Monday, December 16, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. EST

Location: George Washington University (Room 602, Room 602, 957 E Street Northwest Washington, DC 20052) and via Zoom

• Speakers:
  • Professor Jennifer Cook, Director, Institute of African Studies, George Washington University
  • Judd Devermont, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council
  • Professor Krista Johnson, Director, Center for African Studies, Howard University
  • Lorna Johnson, Sister Cities International, Africa Region
  • Professor Gilbert Khadiagala, University of the Witwatersrand, and Director, ACSUS
  • Michal McElwain Malur, Director of External Programs, George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government
  • Dr. Mima Nedelcovych, Co-chair, US Business in Africa Awards, Chairman, AfricaGlobal, Schaffer
  • Carol Pineau, Journalist, Governing Board Member, US Business in Africa Awards
  • Lee Rainie, Director of Internet and Technology Research, Pew Research Center
  • Michael Sudarkasa, US Business in Africa Awards
  • Dan Whitman, Public Diplomacy Council of America
  • Professor Wheeler Winstead, Assistant Director, Center for African Studies, Howard University