This hub is a dream come true, maybe even 10 years in the making (at least on my end). We are so proud of this space and excited about the possibilities it will bring to the KSU community and our stakeholders interested in Africana studies and collaborations. This hub reflects a partnership between Global Education, the Center for Africana Studies and the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services, all at KSU.
Take a look!
We welcome your ideas for how to leverage this space, facilitate collaborations, research, teaching and engagement for faculty and students. The hub already houses several projects and has room for more. And, speaking of rooms, it also has 4 bedrooms ready for use (there are 7 beds in total). We will develop a booking site or form so that you can request use of the space. The goal is that the use of facilities will offset the costs of traveling and may also permit research, teaching and volunteer opportunities abroad for faculty and students who may not otherwise have a chance to travel. We will share more about the logistics and booking process in the near future. Meanwhile, if you have any urgent needs, just send me an email.
Meanwhile, as I reflect on how it all started, I remember driving through Kampala years ago and thinking about how to best facilitate new research and educational opportunities. How can we create some synergy and how can we bring people together? At that time I wanted to create an Institute for Global Health together with the Hub, but that was not in the plans at my previous institution. As we tinkered with lots of different names, INTEGHRAL came up. And, it's not just a random term.
INTEGRAL, as a word, means something that is "necessary to make a whole complete, essential or fundamental" (according to the Oxford Dictionary).
We think also of the word INTEGHRAL (with that "H" added) as an acronym for
INnovaTivE Global Health Research And Learning. (Do you see it?)
And, yes the space is centered around research and learning. We have set up a fabulous multi-use space with a fairly large room 18X20 feet that can be used as a classroom, meeting space, and used for group work. It can even be used as a casual gallery space as it has a railing at the ceiling for hanging photos/posters/artwork. We are currently using it to display some photos for our #TOPOWAproject photovoice images.
Additionally the hub has a dining and living area, two offices (for our TOPOWA project) and several labs for data collection including two labs for our translational neuroscience component.
The hub sits in a beautiful gated compound from where you can catch a glimpse of Lake Victoria. It is very walkable and a few minutes from lovely restaurants and food stores. We have a grounds and house keeper at the hub ready to receive visitors. We are starting our key data collection efforts in January for our TOPOWA study, so the hub will be very busy in just a few weeks.
This is just the start. Let us know your thoughts. And, please share with us your ideas for how we can leverage this investment to the benefit of our KSU community, our partners in Uganda and the communities we serve.
Finally, so very grateful to all who have made this come together. Special thanks to Charles Chandia and the entire leadership team at the Uganda Youth Development Link. This has been a phenomenal team effort.
