Matthew R. Wawrzynski, Ph.D. (Principal Investigator)

Dr. Matthew Wawrzynski is a higher education professional with more than 30 years of experience working at colleges and universities across the United States. He has over 15 years of international experience, primarily in South Africa at Nelson Mandela University where he consulted on developing institutional outcomes for cocurricular learning and works with a team of graduate students and South Africa partners to explore student engagement and student learning outcomes in culturally relevant contexts. As a professor in MSU’s Department of Educational Administration he teaches courses at the graduate level (master’s and doctoral) in college and university administration, research and assessment, and student learning and development. He coordinates the certificate for teaching and learning in postsecondary education, which is designed to provide pedagogical and curriculum professional development knowledge. With $300,000 in grant funding, he directs the National Peer Educator Survey, an initiative of the Health and Wellness Division of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, to explore student leadership development of college and university peer educators. As a Co-PI of a $ 5 million grant with the Ministry of Education and the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy University (ADAU) Foundation he developed a master’s program in higher education management at ADAU. He has over 250 scholarly publications and presentations on student learning outcomes including at institutions in China, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Singapore, India, and South Africa.

Angela Manjichi, PhD (Project Manager & MEL Lead)

Dr. Angela Manjichi is an interdisciplinary scholar with over 15 years of experience working in research and development programs in higher education and agriculture development in Mozambique. She is a faculty member at Instituto Superior Politécnico de Manica. She worked as the Deputy Director-General for Research and Academics, and as the Director of the Business Incubator Center. Throughout her work with youth and rural communities in Mozambique, Angela developed an interest in interdisciplinary and participatory approaches to teaching, research, and development. Her research and development interests are in community engagement and innovation systems in agriculture, focusing on sustainable intensification, knowledge management, gender, and social justice in Sub Saharan agricultural and food systems.

Godwen Veremu, EdD (Chief of Party)

Dr. Godwen Veremu, Assistant professor at Instituto Superior Politécnico de Manica (ISPM, Mozambique, is a lecturer in General, Business and Technical English Language in Accounts and
Engineering Courses since 2012. He also serves as the Director of Social Services at ISPM.