The University of Montana recently moved one step further in promoting research and study opportunities with other nations when UM President George Dennison signed an agreement with Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.

The partnership with one of Africa’s top universities will establish much-anticipated avenues for faculty research and exchanges, student exchanges, and joint conferences and publications. 

 “It has been our dream to have a major institutional partnership with a prominent African university and a new opening with a very important African country with a long history and rich culture,” Associate Provost for International Programs Mehrdad Kia said. “Ethiopia presents all of those opportunities.”

Tsige Gebremariam Woldemariam, the vice president for Graduate Studies and Research at Addis Ababa University, and Dennison signed the agreement during a May visit by the Ethiopian administrators.  

Joining Woldemariam were Yacob Arsano Atito, dean of the College of Social Sciences; Afework Bekele Simegn, dean of the Faculty of Science; and Damen Haile Mariam Gebre Kiros, associate dean for Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Medicine. They gave a public presentation about Ethiopia and their university on May 12. Woldemariam also attended UM’s Commencement ceremonies with Dennison on May 16.  

The agreement creates a unique connection in East Africa for UM, which has nearly 90 partnerships and agreements in various parts of the world.

Addis Ababa University was established in Ethiopia’s capital in 1950 and is one of the largest higher education institutions in East Africa.

UM and Addis Ababa University have similar research and instructional agendas. Several disciplines were involved in forming the agreement, including International Development Studies, the Intercultural Youth and Family Development Program, the Wildlife Biology Program, the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, the School of Public and Community Health Sciences, and the College of Forestry and Conservation.

Kia sees the partnership as a continuation of the work of the College of Forestry and Conservation in South Africa and adjacent regions and predicts a future for campuswide, multidisciplinary collaboration under the agreement.

For more information, call Jeanne Loftus of UM International Programs at 406-243-6865 or e-mail jeanne.loftus@umontana.edu.