W&L Journalism and Mass Communications Professor Receives African Diaspora Fellowship Professor Adedayo Abah will travel to Tanzania to help build a master’s degree program in communications at the University of Dar es Salaam.

By Emily Innes
January 17, 2023

Adedayo ‘Dayo’ Abah, professor of journalism and mass communications at Washington and Lee University, recently received a fellowship through the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP) that will support research and travel to Tanzania for three weeks in June 2023.

The CADFP is a scholar fellowship program for educational projects at African higher education institutions designed to facilitate research collaboration, graduate student teaching and mentoring, and curriculum co-development. The competitive program is managed and administered by the Institute of International Education and funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. A total of 566 African Diaspora Fellowships have been awarded since the CADFP was established in 2013.

Through the fellowship, Abah will work with the faculty at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to help establish a master’s degree program in communications. She will serve as a “disinterested” party, reviewing the courses and requirements, and lending guidance as necessary. She will also be collaborating on research projects with her Tanzanian colleagues while in the country.

“I am excited about the opportunity to learn about communication in Eastern Africa, work with graduate students, [and] engage and interact with communication scholars from Tanzania,” said Abah. “Together, we can contribute to building capacity at African universities and contribute to development goals.”

Abah has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2002. She earned her bachelor’s degree in English and literary studies at the University of Ado-Ekiti, Ondo State, Nigeria, a master’s degree in theological studies from Southern Methodist University, a master’s degree in media studies from Texas Christian University, and a doctorate in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina.

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