Each semester, the Global Awareness Collaborative Colloquium (GACC) highlights a different geographic area of the world. The purpose of the GACC is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about the economic, cultural, societal, and political interactions with a group of people living far away.  The featured area is chosen by the CECI College Advisory and Communication Committee because there is a connection with a study abroad program, a Fulbright Scholarship, a student population, or a community partner organization. The inaugural GACCs for 2023-24 are Czechia in Fall and Ghana in Winter.

Past Global Awareness Collaborative Colloquiums: Fall 2023 - Czechia

Dr. Dianne Green-Smith, Professor of Social Work; Dr. Adeline Borti, Assistant Professor of English Education; and Dr. Mark Hoffman, Associate Dean, are the organizing committee for the Winter GACC.

Keynote Presenations

Tuesday, 20 February 2024, noon-1pm
University Club, DeVos Center

RSVP

A retrospective on the Social Work study abroad program in Ghana

Dr. Dianne Green-Smith, Professor of Social Work

African American Migration: Exploring the lived experience of African Americans living in Ghana

Dr. Jakia Marie, Assistant Professor of Integrative and African American Studies 

Host: Dean Sherill Soman, College of Education and Community Innovation

Lunch: Ghana salad (lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, onions, and baked beans), Red Red (stewed black-eyed peas), Kelewele (spicy fried plantains), and Bofrot  (Ghanaian donuts)

PechaKucha Hour: The Ghana Experience

Tuesday, 20 February 2024, 1-2pm
University Club, DeVos Center

Spoken Word performance:

• Jesse Maina, master's student in Data Science & Analytics

PechaKucha presentations:

• Amanda Anka, master's student in Communications: “What does being Ghanaian mean?” 
• Vanessa Hackman, student in Nursing: "Growing up Ghanaian in an American Setting"
• Albert Nii Noi Okwei, master's student in Public Administration: "Golden Horizons: Discovering the Treasures of Ghana."
• Ruth Yeboah, master's student in Communications:"The Akan Customary Marriage in Ghana”

For the Culture Quiz Bowl

Tuesday, 27 February 2024, 5-7pm
Kirkhof Center 2250

Our quiz bowl will focus on Africa and the Diaspora as it relates to history, language, geography, culture, music, and anything else you can think of. Flex your knowledge, eat some good food, and see if you can walk away with one of our great prizes!

Sponsored by: Area and Global Studies, Office of Multicultural Affairs, and CECI

Host: Dr. Jakia Marie, Assistant Professor of Integrative and African American Studies 

Register a team or to be placed on a team

Dinner: African and African American food

Ghana-US Relations: The Higher Education Platform

A conversation with Professor Kweku Osam and Dr. Thomas Haas

Tuesday, 12 March 2024, 10-11am EDT (14:00-15:00 GMT)
Webinar

Register to receive a webinar link. (If you register with a GVSU email, you will need to use the “Sign In with SSO” button, then enter the domain "gvsu-edu." This will take you to a university login page.)

Panel: Professor Kweku Osam, former Pro Vice-Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, University of Ghana, Legon and Dr. Thomas Haas, President Emeritus of Grand Valley State University

Moderator: Dr. Richard Yidana, Associate Professor of Sociology

Sounds from the Other Side: African Popular Music in the Age of Technoculture

Wednesday, 13 March 2024, 2-3pm EDT (18:00-19:00 GMT)
Webinar

Several music creatives and enthusiasts describe the latest music scene in Ghana and West Africa. They will describe how Highlife, Afro-Calypso, and Afrobeat have shaped the music of trending Ghanaian artists like Gyaki, Amaarae, Kidi, and Black Sherif. Attendees will receive a playlist curated by the panel.

Register to receive a webinar link. (If you register with a GVSU email, you will need to use the “Sign In with SSO” button, then enter the domain "gvsu-edu." This will take you to a university login page.)

Panel: NiiQuaye, producer, arranger, singer-song writer, and guitarist, Nenesenor, hip-hop/afrobeats musician and actor, and Purple Goergelyn Ames (a.k.a., Dear Purple), a television producer/director and an A&R representative for the Lynx Entertainment Ghana record label.

Host: Joseph Amartey, master's student in Public Administration and music producer

The Global Challenge of Textile Waste: Initiatives in Ghana and Grand Rapids

Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 10-11am EDT (14:00-15:00 GMT)
Webinar

"The fashion industry produces more clothing than we can consume and the Global North consumes more than they can use. At the end of fashion’s oversupplied linear economy is Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, the largest secondhand clothing market in the world. If you have ever donated clothing to a charity shop or put your clothing in the “recycling” bin down the street, there’s a good chance your garments ended up here. … Every week, 15 million garments arrive from countries across the Global North and 40% leave as waste, often within one or two weeks of landing at port. This waste ends up in burn piles around the city, dumped in informal settlements where it pollutes the backyards of Accra’s most vulnerable citizens or it is washed out to sea."  From STOP WASTE COLONIALISM! website.

Register to receive webinar link. (If you register with a GVSU email, you will need to use the “Sign In with SSO” button, then enter the domain "gvsu-edu." This will take you to a university login page.)

Panel: Samuel Oteng, Community Engagement Manager at the Or Foundation, and Janay Brower, Founder and CEO of Public Thread

Host: Chelsea Duball, Assistant Professor of Natural Resource Management

Experiencing Ghana through Virtual Reality: Cape Coast Castle and GVSU

Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 2:30 - 3:30 PM
DEV 107C (University Club)

Incorporating technology in classrooms can take different forms to expand student learning and engagement. This Big Bite will show the preliminary results of a virtual reality project that is a collaboration with the African/African American Studies program and Information Technology. More specifically, this project is a virtual reality experience of the Cape Coast Castle and Assin Manso Last Bath in Ghana, West Africa. Our session will discuss the impact virtual reality can have in education and the opportunities at GVSU.

Film and Pastry Matinee: Beasts of No Nation

Saturday, 23 March 2024, 4pm
107D DeVos Center

RSVP

BEASTS OF NO NATION is based on the highly acclaimed novel by Nigerian author Uzodinma Iweala, bringing to life the gripping tale of Agu, a child soldier torn from his family to fight in the civil war of an African country. Shot in Ghana and starring Idris Elba, Abraham Attah, Ama K. Abebrese, Grace Nortey, David Dontoh, and Opeyemi Fagbohungbe,

Hosts: Elijah Fosu, master's student in Higher Education, Joachim Kuleafenu, master's student in the Applied Computer Science, and Prince Essuman, master's student in Social Work

Closing GACC Celebration

Saturday, 30 March 2024, 4-8pm
Location: Niemeyer Living Center, Multi-Purpose room, Allendale Campus

Authentic African food

Schedule:

• Music - 4:00 pm
• Food description - 4: 30 pm
• Dance team - 4:45 pm
• Fashion show, first Runway - 5:10 pm 
• Karaoke - 5:35 pm
• Fashion Show, second runway - 6:20 pm
• Dance contest - 6: 55 pm
• Spoken word - 7:35 pm
• Closing Remarks - 7:50 pm

Event and hospitality team:

• MCs: Elijah Fosu, Joachim Kuleafenu, & Ruth Yeboah
• Music coordinators: Joachim Kuleafenu & Joseph Amartey
• Fashion show coordinators: Amanda Anka, Ruth Yeboah, & Prince Essuman
• Karaoke host: Prince Essuman
• Poet: Jesse Maina
• Event Coordinator and Host: Dr. Adeline Borti, Assistant Professor of English Education