Spears School MBA program develops partnership with Kenyan university

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

By Jill Banzet, Spears School communications intern
 
(April 29, 2009   Stillwater, OK) – The Spears School of Business is developing a doctoral-level partnership with Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya, as part of Oklahoma State University’s Sub-Saharan initiative.
 
Spears School faculty members Robert Dooley and Federico Aime, recently traveled to Kenya to gain a better understanding of how the Spears School might assist Moi University in developing Ph.D. trained faculty.  
 
“OSU has a memo of understanding with Moi,” said Dooley, Spears School associate dean for graduate programs and research. “Some OSU units are already working with the university. Visitors from Moi’s business school were here in December and our trip was a follow-up to their visit.”
 
Dooley and Aime are now preparing a proposal that will help Moi University build faculty capacity to meet the growing demand for higher education in Kenya.
 
“During our visit, we met with university officials on at least six campuses around Kenya to understand their training requirements and met almost all Moi business and economics Ph.D. students to discuss their research plans and needs,” Aime said.
 
The dean of Moi University’s business school will visit the Spears School in June to finalize the proposal, which will include short Ph.D. seminars at Moi University in Kenya, visits to the Spears School of Business, participation in collaborative research, and dissertation advice for selected Moi University doctoral students.
 
Additionally, while in Kenya, Dooley and Aime traveled to the village of Kogelo and meet with Sarah Obama, President Barack Obama’s grandmother.  The faculty members took her corn meal and milk as a gift for the village.
 
“I was very honored to have the opportunity to meet Sarah Obama,” Dooley said.  She expressed great pleasure that the United States had embraced her grandson, and was taken aback by all of the attention she is now getting.”  
 
Aime added, “Visiting Sarah was great; like in most international trips, roads were rough, but there was also a humbling lesson of American history at the end of those roads.”