Robben Island and the South African spirit of resilience
It’s almost impossible to put into words what it’s like to walk around Robben Island, an island about three miles west off the coast of Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years behind bars during South Africa’s apartheid era. One could describe the 8-foot-by-8-foot jail cells where Mandela and […] Read more »
Transforming lives in Cape Town
Unfortunately, the IU delegation brought with it to Cape Town a bit of bad weather, including cloudy skies, rain and brisk temperatures in the low 50s. (Of course, I’m guessing that heat-stricken Hoosiers would happily take those temperatures right now!) That said, any weather-related blues that delegation members might’ve been feeling were quickly washed away […] Read more »
Lessons of the past, promises of tomorrow
As members of the IU delegation met with senior leaders this morning at the University of the Western Cape—a public university located in the Belleville suburb of Cape Town, South Africa—it was next to impossible, at least from this observer’s vantage point, not to marvel at a most timely juxtaposition. Just a few hours prior […] Read more »
IU’s South African connections run deep
As the IU delegation leaves behind sunny and mild Johannesburg for rainy and cool Cape Town, it gives me a moment to reflect on a number of interesting IU-South Africa connections that I’ve picked up both before and during this presidential trip. Almost every South African we’ve talked to thus far—whether it be the administrators […] Read more »
A big day in Pretoria
There’s big, and then there’s Africa. But don’t take my word for it. Fittingly, size has, in large part (no pun intended) driven many of the conversations over the past two days of meetings — both yesterday at the Gordon Institute of Business Science in Johannesburg and today at GIBS’ parent institution, the University […] Read more »
South Africa: ‘A great lab to engage’
Collaboration. Contradiction. Challenge. Community. It was a day to reflect on each of these four “C’s” as the Indiana University delegation took part in its first full day of activities since arriving this past weekend in Johannesburg, South Africa, beginning with an early-morning visit to the nation’s premier business school, the Gordon Institute of Business […] Read more »
An introduction and itinerary
Beginning this weekend, a delegation from Indiana University, led by IU President Michael A. McRobbie and including yours truly, will embark on a two-week trip to sub-Saharan Africa, including stops in South Africa, Kenya and Ghana. I’m honored and excited to be part of the trip — the first by a sitting IU president to Africa in […] Read more »
