Atieno Adala
School of Education
Indiana University

My formative years were spent in Kenya my native country where I got my education from primary school through college. I graduated from Kenyatta University with a Bachelor of Education degree in 1989. Upon graduation, I taught Home Economics, specifically Foods & Nutrition, in a secondary school in Kenya for two years and later as an expatriate in Botswana for three years. I decided to return to school to pursue graduate studies, and in 1997 I was admitted to Indiana University Bloomington to pursue a Master of Science Degree in Applied Health Science with a concentration on Nutrition Science. I completed the program in August 1999 and immediately embarked on a doctoral program in Instructional Systems Technology with a minor in African Studies. In addition, due to my interest in gender issues, I am also affiliated to the Gender Studies Department at Indiana University Bloomington.

During my graduate studies at Indiana University, I have held various jobs in addition to serving as the President for African Students Association in 1997-1998. I was a research assistant at the Johnson Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where I conducted an extensive literature review to investigate gender bias in access to venture capital funds. To this end, I compiled and annotated over 300 scholarly articles on entrepreneurship, education and socio-psychology. I also worked as a research assistant for the Global Business International Network and helped compile country/city specific websites with information on African countries. I was a graduate assistant for a Gender Studies class on Sexual Politics, and as an associate instructor for an African Languages and Linguistics class when they studied my native language Dholuo. Also for the past two semesters, I taught Dholuo as a tutorial fellow in the African Languages Program.

However, my main position has been that of Outreach Coordinator for the African Studies Program, a position I held since July 1999 until June this year when I left for Kenya to conduct fieldwork. I was charged with directing outreach activities, and my responsibilities included providing information on Africa to K-12 schools and higher education institutions, the general public, the business community and the media. This I did by providing speakers, producing a bi-annual newsletter, developing a website and conducting workshops as well as maintaining a resource library.

In addition to receiving the Compton Peace Fellowship (2002-2003), I was also a recipient of the P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship (2002) and the Association of American University Women (AAUW) International Fellowship (2003-2004).