Santa Clara University

Faculty

Professor Michael Kevane
Co-director, SCU Burkina Faso Program
Chair, Department of Economics
Santa Clara University
mkevane@scu.edu

Michael Kevane conducts research on economic institutions and growth in poor countries, focusing on Africa.  Recent research focuses on the importance of libraries and reading programs in promoting reading and the impacts on societies of a reading public, with articles published in academic journals such as Libri, World Libraries and Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France.  He is the author of Women and Development in Africa: How Gender Works (Lynne Rienner, 2004), which analyzes how gender operates at the village level to structure the choices that men and women take as economic actors.  He has published numerous research articles on the performance of rural institutions and markets in Sudan and Burkina Faso in journals such as World Development, Review of Development Economics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, and Africa.  He is co-editor of a book, Kordofan Invaded: Peripheral Incorporation and Social Transformation in Islamic Africa (Brill, 1998), that brought together cutting-edge research on the Kordofan in western Sudan.  Kevane received his Ph.D. from the Department of Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.  Kevane teaches in the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, where he is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Economics Department, and co-Director of the Reading West Africa study abroad program in Burkina Faso.  He is past President of the Sudan Studies Association, and co-director of Friends of African Village Libraries (www.favl.org), a non-profit he co-founded in 2001 that supports village libraries in rural Africa.

Professsor David Pace
Co-director, SCU Burkina Faso Program
Faculty, Department of Art & Art History
Santa Clara University
dpace@scu.edu

David Pace received an MFA in Photography in 1991 from San Jose State University after earning a Masters Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago and a BA from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He began teaching at Santa Clara in 1998, after teaching at San Francisco State University, San Jose State University, and Foothill College. Currently the President of the Board of Directors of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, David previously served as President of the Board of Directors at San Francisco Camerawork. His artwork records reality in ways that reveal connections between economic, psychological and aesthetic aspects of our lives and possessions. His photographs and animated films have been exhibited internationally. 

Professor Leslie Gray
Faculty, Environmental Studies Institute
Santa Clara University
lgray@scu.edu

Leslie Gray is a geographer who teaches classes that emphasize global environment, development and population issues. Her current research considers the environmental and equity dimensions surrounding global cotton production, focusing on how the agricultural subsidies given to farmers in wealthy countries affect poor farmers in West Africa. She has published articles on environmental policy, land degradation, and women's access to resources in Burkina Faso and Sudan. This research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Fulbright/IIE and the Social Science Research Council. She has also done work for several international organizations, including CARE, Catholic Relief Services, UNDP, ILO and the World Bank.

 

Student Staff

Kara Coughlin

Peer Advisor-International Programs Office, SCU Burkina Faso Program Coordinator
(Public Health major with a minor in French & Francophone studies)

My work with the SCU Burkina Faso Program is diverse, including information sessions, marketing and student outreach.

I studied abroad in Burkina Faso in the Fall of 2010. I chose to go to Burkina because I wanted an experience that was not only unique, but one where I would be more than a tourist. During my time in Burkina, I was immersed in culture and gained a deep appreciation for the West African way of life. I am so happy to have had the opportunity to spend time in this wonderful country. I especially loved my time in the villages. Village life is peaceful and calm, but the kids who frequented the library were lively and full of enthusiasm. I loved being a part of their day. I have never met more kind-hearted people than in Burkina Faso.