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BY CARRIE MADREN
UMCONNECTION CORRESPONDENT

At first glance, a liberal arts college in the Maryland suburbs seems to have little in common with a pan-African university. But Charlie Moore has a heart and a vision for both schools and a partnership between them felt like an obvious move.

Serving as a Volunteer in Mission with Community UMC in Crofton, Moore saw surprising similarities between his alma mater, McDaniel College in Westminster, and Africa University in Zimbabwe.

Back in Maryland, Moore began pursuing the partnership idea, and this year, his vision came to fruition.

"When we started visiting Africa University, I saw many similarities between it and McDaniel," said Moore, a trustee and alum of McDaniel College (Class of '71). Besides a comparable size, ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 undergrads, both schools have graduate programs, Methodist roots and a liberal arts focus.

"Thoughts began circulating in my head to see if we could forge out a strategic partnership between the two institutions," he said.

Plans were put into motion in early September 2010, when Fanuel Tagwira, vice chancellor of Africa University, traveled to Maryland to meet McDaniel's top administrators and discuss opportunities for student and faculty exchange and collaboration. Moore and Bishop John Schol met with him at McDaniel.

"The Baltimore-Washington Conference tied in from the beginning on this," said Moore, and the campus visit concluded with a memorandum of understanding, and forging next steps for the partnership.

Over McDaniel's January Term in early 2011, nine students, two faculty members, friends of the college and Moore traveled to a rural region of Zimbabwe to distribute more than 2,000 malaria nets at a local medical clinic and work alongside students from Africa University to convert an old warehouse into a school. In addition, the group spent a week on campus.

The sole Methodist University in Africa, the school draws students from all over Africa, not just Zimbabwe. "Africa University is only 20 years old, but we were impressed when we visited at how far they have gone in such a short time," said Moore.

In addition to opportunities for service, the trip provided an invaluable learning experience about the culture and daily life in Zimbabwe. Many unchurched students gained a sense of the connectional system and philanthropy of the Methodist church.

During the fall 2011 semester, McDaniel, a Methodist college from 1864 until the early 1970s, sent its first student to Africa University.

Senior Christian Hall had traveled on the January term trip and while there, developed a strong desire to return. He was struck by the stark difference in what he had read about Zimbabwe and his observations on the trip – the sense of normalcy and people going about their daily lives, he explained. He also appreciated the balance between the modern and traditional in Zimbabwe.

"I could take African studies courses back home, but to learn in this setting, in this context, from African teachers, with African students, in a completely immersed environment," wrote the Political Science and International Studies major in an email.

At Africa University, he studied at the Institute of Peace, Leadership, and Governance. "It's not just about learning the theories, but the attitudes and feelings that Africans themselves have towards them ... things that you can't learn from texts."

In addition to student exchanges, the partnership will also have exchanges of faculty, administration and the board of trustees. "It's exposure to multicultural learning ... you can't put a price on it," said Moore.

Faculty and administration will gain knowledge and insight from the experience of Africa University and how the school has navigated through struggles during the last decade. In turn, the Zimbabwe staff will learn financial management, alumni development, strategic planning and fundraising from McDaniel.

"The ability to sit side-by-side with a totally different culture that is facing economic hardships like nothing we have seen in the U.S., and to see them so full of spirit and hope, is an inspiration for our students," said Moore. "Some of our students came back with deeper appreciation for what it's like in a third world country. I saw our students affirming the American spirit of philanthropy."

Moore and university leaders are still working on getting Africa University students to McDaniel in the spring. The new partnership also has a grant for the two schools to collaborate on developing web curriculum for long distance learning.

Africa University management hopes to learn better practices in higher education management and learn how to run an online program from McDaniel, which has been offering online programs for some years, explained Tagwira.

In addition, "As a Pan-African institution of higher learning, this enriches cultural diversity as it provides opportunities for students to interact and learn from each other," wrote Tagwira in an email.

In particular, the partnership will benefit the Institute of Peace Leadership and Governance at Africa University in many ways. One future idea is to develop a common Institute of Peace Leadership and Governance, a McDaniel course in international studies that would strengthen the partnership through intercultural learning.

Moore plans to take a VIM group back in February 2012 and will spend another three days at Africa University to continue discussions about the partnership. Another trip to McDaniel College is slated for 2013.