TAMIU’s Dr. Peter Haruna Named Fulbright Scholar

Dr. Peter Fuseini Haruna, associate professor of Public Administration and director of Texas A&M International University’s Master of Public Administration program, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and research at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) in Accra, Ghana during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Dr. Haruna will teach graduate seminar courses at GIMPA, an internationally recognized institution of higher learning in Africa, on the profession of public administration . He will also conduct nation-wide research on how to connect good governance ideals and principles to professional public service education and training in a cross-cultural setting.

Haruna said he is honored to receive the Fulbright grant.

“I am honored and excited about this award because Ghana provides an excellent environment for teaching and researching public administration,” Haruna said, “It was among the first of African countries to adopt far-reaching public sector reform policies and since then, has pursued sustained governance reforms for over three decades. Both the World Bank and International Monetary Fund consider Ghana a model of governance reform for Africa.”

Because most of his research has focused on Ghana, the Fulbright award presents an opportunity for him to build on and expand on his teaching about and research of governance reform there, he said.

Haruna is one of approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

He joined the TAMIU faculty in 2000. He is a recognized international scholar and researcher in the College of Arts and Sciences, department of Social Sciences, where he has taught a variety of government courses for 10 years.

He holds both his Ph.D. in Public Administration with a specialization in leadership and Master of Public Administration degree from The University of Akron, Ohio. His Post-Graduate Diploma in Public Administration was earned at GIMPA in Ghana and his honors bachelor’s degree was earned at the University of Ghana, Accra.

Prior to joining TAMIU, he was an instructor at The University of Akron, Ohio. He also served as a research analyst for the Children’s Services Board in Akron. His international experience includes serving as Director of Administration for the United Nations Development Program Instrumentation Center in Accra, Ghana, as well as serving as Director of Administration in the Ghana Civil Service.

Other TAMIU Fulbright Scholars have included Dr. Rafic Bachnak, Dr. Stanley Green, Dr. Susan Berdahl and retired TAMIU professor of history Dr. José Roberto Juárez.

The Fulbright Scholar Program, America’s flagship international educational exchange program, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The Program was created by Senator J. William Fulbright, who envisioned “mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries of the world.”

Recipients of the Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

Fulbright alumni have gone on to become artists, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs, heads of state, journalists, university presidents and teachers, and have been awarded 40 Nobel Prizes.

For more information, please contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 326.2180, e-mail prmis@tamiu.edu or visit offices located in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

For more on the Fulbright Scholar Program, visit fulbright.state.gov.

Click here for more stories focusing on the service and research accomplishments of the administration, faculty and staff of Texas A&M International University.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu