Burundi official visits Colorado State University as part of academic partnership on sustainability

Note to Reporters: A photo of Apollinaire Bangayimbaga is available with this news release online at www.news.colostate.edu.

Colorado State University is hosting a distinguished foreign guest this week: An official from a young university in the African nation of Burundi is on campus as part of an effort to encourage CSU faculty and students to join an emerging partnership between the two universities.

Apollinaire Bangayimbaga, rector of the University of Ngozi, is visiting CSU Sept. 7-10 in a relationship-building trip tied to an agreement that the two schools signed in early 2012. That international memorandum of understanding between the University of Ngozi and CSU’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability is centered around promoting sustainable peace and development in an impoverished country that has experienced 40 years of genocide, civil war and violence since it gained independence from colonial rule in 1962.

Bangayimbaga has co-authored a book with CSU School of Education Professor William Timpson and George Mason University Professor Elavie Ndura titled Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace Education: Moving Burundi Toward a Sustainable Future. Timpson received a Fulbright Specialist Award in 2011 to support his work in Burundi, and during his visit to CSU, Bangayimbaga will speak to Timpson’s classes. Faculty members who are interested in joining this project are encouraged to talk with Timpson about applying for a Fulbright Specialist Award.

"Apollinaire grew up in the humblest of circumstances, routinely walking the three-plus miles from his village to get water for his parents, but showed so much talent that he eventually was chosen for study in the seminary, entered the priesthood, and completed his Ph.D. in theology at the University of Madrid in Spain,” Timpson said. “His leadership of the University of Ngozi is truly remarkable, and now he wants his campus to serve as a kind of springboard for CSU faculty who want to build connections in the developing world and contribute to this effort for sustainable peace and development."

Bangayimbaga will also meet with CSU President Tony Frank, Provost Rick Miranda, College of Health and Human Sciences Dean Jeff McCubbin and School of Education Director George Kamberelis. In addition to meetings with other CSU representatives and local Catholic leaders, he’ll deliver a presentation to Rotary International on Sept. 10.

International Programs is hosting a luncheon for Bangayimbaga on Tuesday, Sept. 9, in Laurel Hall. For more information, contact Shauna DeLuca at (970) 491-7464.

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