Carol Patitu, assistant professor, Educational Administration, and associate director, Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education Program, Texas A&M University
Lecturing and Research: Education, A Study of the Needs of South African University Students in a Post-Apartheid Era; Teach in Master's of Education Program
South Africa
February 2000-December 2000

Carol Patitu's 1999-2000 lecturing and research grant to South Africa became an important personal journey. Patitu was accompanied by her husband, of Tanzanian descent, and her seven-year-old son. Until she traveled to southern Africa to teach graduate students at the University of Durban-Westville (UDW), the scholar had never met her husband's family. They are of the Wanyakyusa ethnic group and live in a village near Tukuyu, Tanzania, where Patitu, her husband and son were able to spend several days in June 1999. She commented that despite the cultural and language barrier, warmth was effectively communicated between the family members through the use of hand gestures and facial expressions. This opportunity to meet with the Tanzanian side of her family for the first time is one that the scholar and her family will cherish for years to come.

Back in South Africa, Patitu taught at the University of Durban-Westville, helping the graduate students there refine their educational research skills, including time management, analysis of data and presentation of results. In collaboration with other scholars, she conducted a study assessing the educational needs of 1500 South African university students at three institutions, including M.L. Sultan Technikon, the University of Natal and the host institution. The written and oral presentation of their findings will
ensure collaboration that extends beyond the duration of the scholar's grant.

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