WMU Africa trip focuses on globalization and education

Two Western Michigan University professors will lead a group of educators from Michigan and Illinois to West Africa next summer. They hope the trip will help educators on both sides of the Atlantic teach their students about the effects of economic globalization.

Dr. William Santiago-Valles is an associate professor in Western's Africana Studies program. He says Michigan and West Africa face similar effects of a globalized economy, including increased unemployment, lower rates of literacy, and higher infant mortality rates.

Santiago-Valles and Dr. Yvette Hyter, a WMU associate professor in speech and audiology, will lead the group to the West African countries of Senegal and Mali in July 2010. The group will include educators from Illinois, as well as Michigan.

A workshop is required for participants. For more information, contact Santiago-Valles at (269) 387-2561 or Hyter at (269) 387-8205.

Click here to listen to WMUK's Robin Wright and Andy Robins interview with Professor Santiago-Valles

© Copyright 2009, WMUK