The U.S. Department of Education has awarded funding for a cohort of 12 Pitt faculty, academic administrators or doctoral students to spend a month in Senegal next summer, focusing on language acquisition and cultural immersion, while establishing a partnership for ongoing research.
The highly competitive Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad program is designed to promote, improve and develop modern foreign language training and area studies programs for all levels of American education.
Interested parties can learn more and apply here on the [Center for African Studies'] University Center for International Studies website. Deadline to apply is Dec. 1.
The initiative will help strengthen language proficiency in Wolof and deepen understanding of Senegalese culture. It further solidifies the University’s relationship with the West African Research Center.
Pernille Røge and Kayien Conner, co-directors of the project, first travelled to Senegal as part of a Center for African Studies faculty/staff delegation trip in May 2023, one of several such visits to Senegal in the past three years. The Pitt in Senegal Study Abroad program launched this summer with seven students, and this year also marks the first year Wolof has been offered at Pitt.