Associate Professor of English Tim Lake is making the most of his sabbatical leave. He’s just back from giving an invited lecture at the University of The Gambia (UTG) in Africa.
“I received the formal invitation from the Vice Chancellor of UTG to deliver an African American History and Culture Seminar,” Lake said. “I also gave two talks at the United States Embassy there on Black culture and recent Black immigrants to the US.”
Lake first met faculty and students at the University of The Gambia in 2009 while on a Fulbright-Hays Group Abroad trip to Senegal and The Gambia. While there he researched the transatlantic slave trade and visited the important sites of Goree Island (Senegal), James Island, and Juffure (Gambia).
“It was an honor of the highest magnitude to be invited back to deliver an African American History and Culture Seminar at the UTG,” Lake said.
His US Embassy talks focused on the “Global Influence of African American Culture” and the impact of recent African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the US.
“This was an exciting opportunity to connect with an international learning community,” he added.
While in The Gambia, Lake met Wabash alumnus Gabriel Ndow (in photo), who is a lecturer in the physics department at UTG. Ndow is a former vice chairman of Wabash’s Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies, which Lake formerly directed.
