CANTON -- Over the next several years, St. Lawrence University faculty and students will work with one of the nation’s leading think-tanks in policy discussions on security issues on the African continent.

The new collaboration will bring together the expertise of St. Lawrence University faculty with scholars at the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C, and experts from Brookings’ Africa Growth Initiative, part of its Global Economy and Development Program. Funding from a private family foundation with ties to St. Lawrence has made it possible for both Brookings and St. Lawrence to study these relations questions for the next three years.

“St. Lawrence is a national leader in African studies among liberal arts colleges,” said Karl Schonberg, professor of government and associate dean of St. Lawrence's Center for International and Intercultural Studies. “Brookings has invited us to lend our expertise on this topic, and the fact they’re saying this is evidence that we’re really distinguished in this area.”

The Africa Security Initiative will also offer several internships each year to interested St. Lawrence students. Recent graduate Kelly Sampier of Colton, who had a combined major in African studies and government and recently completed a senior project studying urban planning in Nairobi, Kenya, will participate in a two-month paid internship at Brookings this summer.

St. Lawrence will also have a say in policy-making decisions at the national and international levels.

“Our professors are not only distinguished scholars, they are also teaching the next generation of policy makers,” said Matthew Carotenuto, associate professor of history and coordinator of St. Lawrence’s African studies program. “African security concerns are complex and rooted in both local and global issues. It is not simply about military aid or diplomacy, it’s about economic development, governance, environmental conservation and much more. Our collaboration with Brookings will allow faculty a students a chance to use lessons from the classroom to influence public policy.”

St. Lawrence University has had a long commitment to Africa for more than four decades. Since 1974, its Kenya Semester Program has sent over 2,000 students to East Africa. Additional programs led by St. Lawrence faculty regularly take students to Senegal, Ethiopia and Rwanda to learn about African issues from a local perspective.

Carotenuto said the Africa Security Initiative will give St. Lawrence faculty the opportunity to engage with policy makers and other leading scholars who are tapped into the Washington, D.C., scene.

“The Brookings mission is to bring scholars in front of key policy makers,” said Carotenuto, who also serves on the board of directors of the Africa Network, which promotes the study of Africa at liberal arts institutions. “This collaboration adds an important chapter to our long engagement with African issues both on and off-campus.”

Carotenuto is the co-author of the forthcoming book “Obama and Kenya: Contested Histories and the Politics of Belonging,” which examines the ways identity politics have shaped global debates about Kenya and U.S-African relations during the Obama presidency.

For more information, visit St. Lawrence University’s Africa Studies program at http://www.stlawu.edu/african-studies/.