CSUSM’s Moses Ochanji Named a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow

Moses Ochanji, associate professor of Science Education and associate director of the School of Education at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), has been named a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow (ADF) by the Carnegie Corporation. The scholar program, which supports 100 short-term faculty fellowships for African-born academics, was created to support educational projects at African higher education institutions.

The fellowship will allow Ochanji to travel to his native country of Kenya in the summer of 2015 to work on a project to develop online curriculum and materials for the courses offered in the Teacher Professional Development Program at Kenyatta University in Nairobi. While there, Ochanji will collaborate with members of the university faculty.

The online access project will benefit thousands of teachers employed by the Kenya Teachers Service Commission. Many teachers, especially those who do not live or work in close proximity to a university, do not have access to professional development program curriculum.

“I am pleased and excited about the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship and the opportunity it offers to help teachers have online access to professional development coursework,” said Ochanji.”It will benefit thousands of teachers working all over Kenya.”

As part of the fellowship program, Ochanji will also work with faculty members of Kenyatta University to explore ways to establish long–term collaborations between CSUSM and Kenyatta University.Ochanji received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science education from Kenyatta University and his Ph.D. in secondary science education from Syracuse University. He joined the faculty of the CSUSM College of Education, Health and Human Services in 2003. He has returned to Kenya several times in the last 15 years to collaborate with Kenyatta University’s faculty to develop teacher education curriculum and professional development programs.