From Ethiopia to IUPUI

"Developing the Capacity for Teaching Excellence in Social Work and Social Development in Ethiopia Project" at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis is a partnership among Addis Ababa University, the IU School of Social Work and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Addis Ababa U. is the first school in sub-Saharan Africa to offer a PhD in Social Work and Social Development, reports the IUPUI news bureau.

Abebaw Minaye Gezie (pictured), a university lecturer at Addis Ababa U., is one of this year's participants.

Gezie has a degree in Pedagogical Science and in Educational Psychology and has 12 years of teaching and research experience in education and psychology in various colleges and universities in Ethiopia. He has been a lecturer in Psychology since 2003 at Addis Ababa U., where he is a 2nd year PhD student in Social Work and Social Development.

Gezie will learn more about the art of teaching while at the IU School of Social Work and UIC, and has been selected to become the expert in pedagogy at AAU. By teaching and training other PhD students at Bahir Dar University, Gondar University and Adama University in teaching research and methods, he will contribute to the development of expert pedagogy at three emerging departments of social work.

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