 | ASA Appoints Karen Jenkins Executive Director
Apr 29, 2010 12:21 PM
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APPOINTMENT OF KAREN JENKINS AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE AFRICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION
The Board of Directors of the African Studies Association (ASA) is pleased to announce the appointment with immediate effect of Karen Jenkins as Executive Director. Dr. Charles Ambler, President of ASA Board of Directors, who served as the chair of the search, commented that the committee was highly impressed with the range of management experience that Ms. Jenkins brings to the position, her international knowledge of higher education, the length of time she spent working in Zambia and other countries on the continent, and her vision for the future of the organization. “Ms. Jenkins will bring a wealth of skills which the committee is confident will maintain the position of ASA as the premier organization that brings together people with scholarly and professional interests in Africa.”
Karen Jenkins received her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law and an M.A. in International Relations from Yale University. Her undergraduate work was at Fisk University. She spent seven years working in Zambia on programs and projects intended to build institutional capacity and improve the quality of life for those who are poor, marginalized, persecuted, or forced to flee as refugees. In Zambia she first served as the Resident Representative for Africare from 1983-1985 and then as the Executive Director of New Development Applications (NDA), a consulting firm that served clients throughout southern Africa from 1985-1989. With NDA, she administered community development funds for Barclays Bank and the Government of Canada and for clients such as the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the Salesian Missions. Ms. Jenkins also taught at the University of Zambia and on her return to the United States she taught at the School for International Training from 1989-1981. Before Africare she was a program officer with Technoserve from 1981-1983 and travelled to a number of countries on the continent.
Ms. Jenkins most recently served as a senior consultant to the Oxford Study Abroad Programme which places students at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Other management positions have included President of BCA Study Abroad (1999-2004), a non-profit consortium of higher education institutions that operates international educational programs with a peace and justice focus. During her tenure as president, new programs were opened in Cuba, Ireland, India, and Australia as well as the development of innovative study tours for faculty and students. While at the Council for International Educational Exchange from 1996-1998 she served as the first Vice President for Institutional Advancement and oversaw the launch of successful fundraising strategies to foundations, corporations and governments to increase study abroad opportunities, especially among underrepresented students and faculty.
Her administrative positions in higher education include Assistant Provost for International Programs & Summer School at The College of New Jersey (2004-2009), Associate Dean for International Education at Dickinson College (1998-1999) and Director of International Studies and International Students and Scholars at St. Olaf College (1991-1996) In addition to publishing articles about International Education and the Christian Church as an NGO in Africa, Ms. Jenkins served as the founding editor‑in‑chief of the Journal of Studies in International Education and authored a regular column on international education for Diverse Issues in Higher Education. She has served on the board of directors of the International Education Research Foundation, Scandinavian Seminar, Minnesota International Health Volunteers, the Council on International Educational Exchange and the Model UNHBCU Program of the United Nations Association. For NAFSA: Association of International Educators, she was a nationally elected member of the Section on United States Students Abroad (SECUSSA) and also was the first chair of the Management Committee for Professional Development Programs.
Dr. Ambler expressed appreciation to the search committee for their hard work on behalf of the ASA. The members were ASA Vice President Judith Byfield, Associate Professor in the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University and the incoming president of ASA; Sandra Barnes, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania; James Pritchett, Professor and Director of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University; and ASA Past President Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Dean of Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, Loyola Marymount University. Charles Ambler, Ph.D.
Professor of History, University of Texas at El Paso
President, African Studies Association
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