UMAPS Cohort and Alumni

The U-M African Presidential Scholars (UMAPS) Program brings early-career faculty from African universities to Ann Arbor, Michigan to accelerate their research capabilities and empower them to make an impact when they return to their home institutions - building mutually beneficial ties between U-M and institutions across the continent. 

Since 2008, the UMAPS Program has hosted scholars from Ghana, South Africa, Liberia, Uganda, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Gabon, and Zambia representing a wide range of disciplines that closely align with the ASC’S initiatives. Some have gone on to complete their PhDs. Others have published their research findings. Others have obtained large grants to pursue collaborative research (some with a U-M colleague). And yet others have been promoted to tenured or full professor positions. African higher education still faces enormous challenges, but the UMAPS program has helped retain and strengthen faculty in African institutions of higher education while simultaneously enriching U-M through the inclusion of African perspectives.