Faculty members of Georgia Gwinnett College’s School of Science and Technology (SST) are shipping about 200 pounds of textbooks to a new college in Tanzania, at the request of a former colleague.
Dr. Shyamala Ratnayeke, formerly an assistant professor of biology at GGC, is a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the University of Dodoma (UDOM) in Tanzania. Fulbright Scholarships are awarded after a competitive application process and Ratnayeke will fulfill both teaching and research responsibilities during her time at the university.
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UDOM is a new institution in the city of Dodoma, Tanzania's new capital. It opened in 2007 with about 1,000 students. The university is expected to enroll about 50,000 students when fully operational in 2025.
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Dr. Deborah G. Sauder, associate dean of the School of Science and Technology and associate professor of Chemistry, said Ratnayeke visited GGC in the fall of 2012 before her classes started in Africa.
“I asked her to let us know if there was anything the SST faculty could do to support her institution and she asked for books,” Sauder said. “We have also collected books for universities in Kenya. There is a shortage of textbooks in many African universities.”
Ratnayeke requested books on subjects including biology, biochemistry, statistics, biometry, calculus, zoology, ecology and environmental science. The estimated cost per book is $150.
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