MEDIA RELEASE

CSUN Professor Wins American Council on Education Fellowship

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., April 4, 2008) — Peter Ogom Nwosu, chair of Cal State Northridge’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and director of CSUN’s Center for Human Relations, will spend the 2008-2009 academic year as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow.

Nwosu said he was honored to get the fellowship, which will pair him with the president of a sister university or college for a year so he can learn what is involved at the highest levels of academic decision making.

"The fellowship provides me an opportunity to engage a broad network of leaders in the academy, and to gain broader perspectives on the processes and modalities for leading and influencing change at the 21st century university," he said. Nwosu, a communication studies professor and former chair of CSUN’s Department of Communication Studies, will be one of 36 fellows.

He was selected in a national competition by ACE, the major coordinating body for U.S. higher education that represents more than 1,600 university and college presidents as well as more than 200 related associations. Through advocacy, research and program initiatives like the ACE Fellows, the council strives to provide leadership, a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public policy.

In an effort to strengthen the leadership at institutions of American higher education, the ACE Fellows program pairs participants with a college or university president and senior leaders at that campus. Included in the highest level of decision-making while participating in administrative activities, fellows also tackle an issue of importance to their own university while they gain valuable on-the-job experience.

The program, established in 1965, has worked with more than 1,500 fellows. Of that number, more than 300 have become heads of colleges and universities while more than 1,100 have moved into the higher ranks of academia as provosts, vice presidents, or deans.

In his application, Nwosu stated, "If selected, I will work on a project that focuses on strategic planning in a variety of areas, in particular on best practices for creating the appropriate campus climate that allows for purposeful change in such areas as student achievement and global engagement."

At CSUN, Nwosu is active in university governance, having served as two years as chair of the university’s Council of Chairs, a body that advises the provost on academic planning and implementation, in addition to numerous other policy-making committees and advisory councils. Prior to joining the Northridge faculty in 2004, he was similarly active during his nearly 15 years at Cal State Sacramento.

Nwosu is nationally recognized as an expert on multicultural issues, communication training and development. He has provided technical consultation to many agencies on planned programs of change that focus on managing diversity in a rapidly changing world.

While a Fulbright Scholar in South Africa, for example, he led a project designed to enhance the international and intercultural dimensions of general education courses in California’s public schools. As part of the post-apartheid transformation of South Africa, he worked with a consulting firm and senior managers of a bank to improve the communication skills of trainers. South Africa is one of more than 25 countries in which he has traveled to conduct research and training.

Nwosu is also the author of three books, including "Beyond Race: A New Vision of Community in America," expected in the summer of 2008.