August 2008

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Torshana Towles with AUN trustees

There is something starkly different about this campus.  The American University in Nigeria (AUN) is set on a wide, rural expanse in Yola, a quiet town of cow herders and market vendors located about 300 miles from Abuja, the capital.  But its differences belie an important similarity to its namesake institution in Washington, D.C. “The people are the connecting factor,” says Torshana Towles, SIS/MA ’08, director of Alumni Relations and Special Events at AUN.  And just like their Washington, D.C. counterparts, the young men and women who walk the halls at AUN are “students of the world.”

AUN was established in October 2004 with the goal of educating the next generation of leaders in West Africa.  The university welcomed its first class in September 2005, and their first graduation in May 2009 is the event for which Towles and her colleagues are “eagerly preparing.” 

Towles’ experience at AU led her to AUN.  When she started college, she had already cultivated an interest in social inequality, but a course on the Information Economy in India led by SIS professor Shalini Venturelli and Kogod professors Shyam Chidamber and Ajay Adhikari allowed her to see firsthand the issues at play.  A trip to India in 2007 with her class left a deep and lasting impression.  Far from simply testing her intellectual mettle, Towles says it also challenged her own personal beliefs, values, attitudes, and norms.  “It forced me to stand up to injustices I witnessed.”

Africa had always been a place of interest, so Towles decided to move to Nigeria shortly after crossing the podium in Bender Arena in May.  Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and the AU presence there offered a sense of security that job offers in other African nations could not afford.  “AU was the launching pad for my current career,” Towles says.  Her time as both an AU student and staff member in the Development and Alumni offices at CAS and SIS helped encourage a desire to “really take a personal interest in making an impact on the world through my life.”

Towles exploring a Nigerian historical site

Towles traveled to Africa for the first time this spring, after a three-day journey involving a stop in London and an overnight stay in Abuja before heading to the regional airport in Yola.  “I was really relieved it went smoothly,” Towles recalls.  “There were people to meet me at every dropping point.” 

Still, she chuckles at the revelation, made a few days before her departure by SIS Dean Louis Goodman, that she could have opted for a slightly shorter itinerary.  “Maybe next time,” she says with a laugh.

Her first six weeks have been a whir of activity.  In addition to building the alumni program, Towles also helps organize a range of cultural events and travels around the country to spread the word about AUN and the opportunity for American-style higher education.  As the first person in her family to attend and graduate from college, Towles strongly believes in the power of education to mitigate the impact of poor economics and discrimination.

The business of making a difference, though, is not instant, and Towles has spent time adjusting to Nigerian culture.  In professional practice, strong personal relationships must be firmly in place before business contact can be established, even for minor office requests like obtaining copies of documents.  In the kitchen, it means she has some new favorite foods to add to her culinary repertoire, like semotiva, a doughy substance made from the inside of corn kernels, and egusi, a popular West African stew made from ground seeds. 

Later this year, she will be presenting her master’s thesis on the impact and effectiveness of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in sub-Saharan Africa, at a meeting of MFIs sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Where else might her life abroad lead?  Towles is sincerely excited about the prospect of making a difference and hopes that the next few years will find her helping structure and consult on the economic growth of developing nations.  In the meantime, she is enjoying her work and looking forward to her Christmas visit home, when she’ll be able to see her family and indulge in that uniquely American treat – Starbucks.  It will be a well-deserved latte for a lady committed to AUN, and the students in Nigeria.

- Josephine Sanchez

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