African professor presents history of his home

A Marshall University professor and African native gave students the opportunity to learn about the history of his home continent.

George Authur, associate professor in the College of Education and Human Services and an African scholar, shared his knowledge of African history Wednesday. Authur, originally from Ghana, also brought artifacts to help students learn about the country.

"In 1993, I had an exhibit about African history in the Morrow Library," Authur said. "After that, I took my presentation to area schools, churches and some conferences."

Authur, who has traveled to other countries in Africa besides Ghana, presented students with basic history about Africa and the pre-colonial African empires.

The presentation was sponsored by the Marshall University Society of Black Scholars.

Mona Drake, junior communications disorder major from Charleston, W. Va., attended the event and is a member of the society.

"The presentation was really interesting," Drake said. "I was ignorant of African history before I came. The presentation really helped, and it was short and sweet."

The society is an organization that aspires to support and nurture African American students in character building, leadership skills, professional maturity and service to others, according to the organization's Web site.

For students to be eligible to join, they must be African American, enrolled as a full time student, have a minimum grade point average of 3.0, attend society events and maintain an academic scholarship while enrolled at the university.

"The society is a really good opportunity," Drake said. "Also everyone is invited to the events we host, not just African-Americans. The events typically feature an African-American speaker who has their Ph. D. This is to show us that we can do and accomplish great things."

Authur said he agrees that the society is a great opportunity for students to broaden their horizons.

"Education should be broad-based, not limited to your major," Authur said. "Look at me as an example, I am in the college of education and am doing a presentation of African history. It just shows that broad-based knowledge can lead to many opportunities."

The society's next event, Apollo II Talent Show, will be at 7:30 p.m. March 18 in the Memorial Student Center in Room BE5.

Ellen Kist can be contacted at kist@marshall.edu.