Somali Academic Group Honors Holy Cross Professor

WORCESTER, Mass. – Dr. Hussein M. Adam, associate professor of political science at the College of Holy Cross and a Somali national, will be honored at the 10th convention of the Somali Studies International Association (SSIA) August 16-19, at Ohio State University.  The association is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of its founding.

In recognition of his contribution to Somali national life and his role as the founding father of the SSIA, the association will host a tribute dinner for Adam. In making the announcement, Dr. Said S. Samatar of the SSIA said, “The Somali academic community considers [Adam] a national treasure,” as well as “a productive scholar who has helped educate a generation of Somali students.”

A member of the Holy Cross faculty since 1989, Adam received his B.A. from Princeton University, M.A. from Makerere University College, Uganda, and Ph.D. from Harvard University. His teaching and research interests include comparative politics, social and political thought and international development. His recent published work includes “Horn of Africa” in the book State of the Race, (Diaspora Press) and “Somalia: International versus Local Attempts at Peacebuilding,” in Durable Peace: Challenges for Peacebuilding in Africa (University of Toronto Press).  He also served as co-editor of War Destroys, Peace Nurtures: Reconciliation and Development in Somalia (Africa World Press) and has a forthcoming book on Somali politics due in August 2007, From Tyranny to Anarchy: The Somali Experience (Red Sea Press).