Title: Professor

Company: Cornell University

Location: Ithaca, NY

Armed with a lifelong interest in the transmission of knowledge, N’Dri Assie-Lumumba currently serves as a professor at Cornell University. She specializes in African and Diaspora education, comparative and international education, social institutions, and the study of gender. Dr. Assie-Lumumba is also quite knowledgeable with regard to family institutions and structures, and African history with a focus on the European expansion, and the colonial and contemporary periods.

As a testament to her success, Dr. Assie-Lumumba’s article, “Educational and Economic Reforms, Gender Equity, and Access to Schooling in Africa,” which was published in the International Journal of Comparative Sociology, earned the 2001 Joyce Cain Award for distinguished research on African descendants. The award was offered by the Comparative and International Education Society. She was also honored in 2001, 2004 and 2006, when she received special recognition on International Women’s Day by the International Students and Scholars Office and the Women’s Resource Center at Cornell University. Additionally, Dr. Assie-Lumumba was a nominee for the 2003 International Woman of the Year Award from the International Biographical Centre.

In the pursuit of her passion for learning, Dr. Assie-Lumumba earned a Ph.D. in comparative education from the University of Chicago in 1982, as well as two master’s degrees and two Bachelor of Arts in sociology and history, respectively, from Université Lyon II between 1971 and 1975. She also studied at Université d’Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), and Université Laval, Québec. Dr. Assie-Lumumba is affiliated with Pi Lambda Theta, the American Association of University Women, the African Heritage Studies Association, and the New York State African Studies Association.