Eric Eghan

President (Master's of Social Work, School of Social Work)

Hobbies:
I love studying the WORD and watching/playing the beautiful game - football (soccer).
PanAf Perspective:
To me, PanAf GPSU is a graduate and professional African diasporan family by blood or fictive with cultural, social, economic, political, and research interest that align with the Afro-Global cause.  I see an immediate future of PanAf GPSU where relationship building – personal and professional – forms a formidable foundation for this African diasporan family. In this light, PanAf GPSU becomes home away from home for members of the family at the University of Pittsburgh. I see PanAf GPSU effectively playing her role as the nurturing mother of all the graduate and professional students, organizations (school & community), and departments that subscribe membership to the African diasporan family in whole or in part on this campus.

Kafui Agbemenu

Vice President-(Ph.D., School of Nursing)

Hello PanAf Members, Affiliates and Network Partners,
My name is Kafui Agbemenu. I am a registered nurse and currently a second year PhD student at the School of Nursing. My research interests are in providing reproductive health education, access and services to adolescent girls in Sub-Saharan African countries, particularly in Kenya, East Africa. I am also interested in exploring the attitudes and beliefs of mothers towards providing reproductive health education to their daughters. In my free time I enjoy travelling, sightseeing, reading, watching TV, retail therapy, volunteering, hanging out with friends and engaging in stimulating conversations!
PanAf Perspective:

My vision for the future of PanAf is that we continue to become more relevant to our membership, affiliates and network partners. I also envision PanAf being more active in the Pittsburgh community. We need to highlight the accomplishments of our scholars while ensuring they actively engage in nurturing the next generation of scholars. It is also my sincerest hope that we as an organization bring further understanding of our cultures to the Pittsburgh community as we celebrate our unique diversities.

Brandon J Mendoza

Business Manager (Masters of Public Administration, Graduate School of Public & International Affairs)

Hobbies: I love watching college football (HAIL TO PITT) and i love politics.

PanAf Perspective:

PanAf seeks to reach accross the differrent African cultures from around the world and to represent their history, culture, and reach at the University of Pittsburgh. PanAf is seeking to do this through collaboration from all students, faculty, and staff at the university that have an interest in African culture. It is this administrations goal to further PanAf's mission, goals, and objectives for the current year. Our overarching goal is to lead PanAf to a growth that can be continued for years to come.

Nahom Minassie Beyene

Office Manager ( Ph.D.,   School of Health and Rehabilitation Science )

PanAf Perspective:

Hello Pan-Af members,
From my perspective, PanAf GPSU simply brings everybody to the table, where a spotlight of honor is lit upon the heritage of Black people around the world. For graduate and professional studentsat Pitt, this should mean that our diversity is precisely why we must be engaged in higher education. For prospective students, this should mean that Pitt has an environment where culture, heritage, and identity will not be set aside as an incompatibility with academic or professional excellence. I see PanAf GPSU moving forward to become a model organization on how to fuse the efforts of cultural, minority professional and charitable groups into a balanced network of organizations that portray a community of mutual respect and support across disciplines.

PanAf GPSU serves all graduate and professional students at Pitt with research and/or cultural interests in Black America, the African Continent, the Caribbean, West Indies, Latin America, and the entire Diaspora.

The PanAf GPSU philosophy is to design blueprints and build collaborative mechanisms for the Black community on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). As a union of Pan-African organizations and administrative entities, we seek to network with all charitable, diversity, minority professional, National Pan-Hellenic Council’s sororities and fraternities, and cultural organizations. Our role is then to coordinate efforts that improve the quality of cross-cultural relationships and education for students of color in higher education. In effect, strengthening the Pan-African network allows us to collectively be of greater service to the cultural and research interests at Pitt (Read The PanAf Constitution).