Sociology prof honoured for her work building educational connections between Canada and Sudan

In the mid 1990s, Dr. Amal Madibbo, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Sociology, left her home in Sudan to begin her academic career in Canada. But she never truly said goodbye to her native land. Rather, Madibbo has worked tirelessly to provide aid to the developing country, returning every year to work with Sudanese students while building a strong educational connection between the University of Calgary and her home country.

She was honoured for that earlier this month in Ottawa when she received an Award of Recognition from the Embassy of Sudan in Canada, presented by Mahmoud Fadl (above), the Ambassador of Sudan to Canada.

“It was nice to be recognized for this work,” says Madibbo. “They appreciated that my contributions are helping Sudanese students, while also building the profile of the University of Calgary in Sudan. Now, so many students there are interested in studying here. There is really more demand than ever.”

Returning to Sudan every year for over a decade, Madibbo has worked with refugee camps and schools in war-torn Darfur while also volunteer teaching in many of the African country’s universities. Most recently she has partnered with four Dutch professors to form a winter school for university students. The group is helping Sudan universities tailor their expertise so that they may better partner with other universities around the world, including the University of Calgary.

“In the coming year we’re hoping to take the winter university to the next level,” says Madibbo. “I’m hoping some of my academic colleagues from Canadian universities will join me in teaching this year. And we’ve also decided to focus our teaching not only in the big city centres of Sudan, but also in the rural centres, where they have less access to educational opportunities.”

She continues: “This fosters development in Sudan and it also enhances relations between the Sudan and Canadian governments and our respective universities as well.”