Africa expert Des Forges to visit campus

Alison Des Forges, an expert on human-rights abuses in Rwanda and Burundi, will visit the University on Tuesday, Feb. 20, and Wednesday, Feb. 21, as a Marjorie Kovler Fellow. While at the University, Des Forges will attend classes and meet informally with students and faculty members.

Des Forges' work focuses on the history of the Interlacustrine region of Africa, which includes Rwanda and Burundi. An adjunct assistant professor of history at the State University of New York at Buffalo, she has written numerous articles on the Interlacustrine region and has led international commissions investigating human-rights abuses there.

Since the current crisis in Rwanda began in April 1994, Des Forges has presented briefings on the region to members of the National Security Council; to Madeleine Albright, U.S. representative to the United Nations; to the House and Senate subcommittees on Africa; and to various members of the U.S. State Department and officials of the governments of Canada, France and Belgium and the European Community.

Des Forges received her B.A. in 1964 from Harvard-Radcliffe and her M.A. in 1966 and her Ph.D. in 1972 from Yale. A faculty member at SUNY at Buffalo since 1990, she also has taught at Middlebury College, Beijing University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She has been featured on radio and television news programs in North America and abroad, including "60 Minutes" and "Nightline," and in articles in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other publications.

The Marjorie Kovler Visiting Fellows program is designed to encourage interaction between students at the University and prominent individuals in the arts and public affairs. Marjorie Kovler was founder and president of Kovler Galleries and a prominent figure in the Chicago art world.

For more information, call 702-8800.