As part of Florida A&M University’s expanded international focus, designed to prepare students to compete in a global society, officials at the historically Black university are looking to establish economic and development collaborations with African leaders as well as foster relationships to higher education institutions in Africa. This week, a delegation of FAMU faculty and 12 FAMU students will visit Ghana.

Dr. Lydia McKinley-Floyd, dean of FAMU’s School of Business and Industry (SBI), and Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, who is also traveling with the delegation, plan to explore areas of potential economic and developmental collaborations that can be cultivated between Tallahassee and Ghana.

At the same time, FAMU students will spend 10 weeks conducting research on health disparities associated with HIV/AIDS and cancer through a National Institutes of Health Program called Minority Health International Research Training (MHIRT), which is designed for minority graduate and undergraduate students with health research training.

“The MHIRT grant will facilitate student awareness of minority and international health problems, stress the importance and opportunities of international collaboration in research, as well as address health disparities from a global health perspective,” said Dr. Henry Lewis III, dean of the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and a member of delegation.

McKinley-Floyd aims to foster relationships between the University of Ghana, Cape Coast University and the University of Science and Technology. “We hope to establish linkages for our students and faculty from SBI,” said McKinley-Floyd.

In Nigeria, FAMU recently signed a memorandum of agreement with the University of Abuja (UOA) to strengthen the bonds between the institutions and further academic, social and cultural objectives.

FAMU currently maintains 16 active international memorandums with institutions, like the University of St. Martin in the Netherlands Antilles and the Universidade do Estado da Bahia in Brazil, as a means of facilitating meaningful international experiences for its students, says Joseph V. Jones, interim director of Florida A&M University’s Office of International Education and Development.