Abdourahmane Dia

Abdourahmane Dia (MA ICP '07) joined the Master of Arts Program in International and Comparative Politics after completing the B.A. program in Communication Studies at Wright State. Prior to his studies in the United States, Abdou had completed training in Media Management at the National Institute of Audio-Visual Studies in Paris, France, and studied journalism at the Cesti School of Journalism in Dakar, Senegal. His thesis, "Military Leaders-Turned Civilian Head of States and Democratization in West Africa" assessed the political and economic performance of executive leaders in Nigeria, Mali and Ghana. He studied the impact of leadership transformation on democratization, testing models of development and democratization and pointing to the challenges and achievements of civilian transformation in contemporary contexts.

Abdou currently serves as a producer with the BBC World Service in Dakar, a post he has held since February 2010. He helped open the BBC’s first office in Senegal. He is responsible for researching, writing, editing and producing broadcast programs for the French language service of the BBC. His most recent major assignment was to travel throughout Senegal to cover the recent Presidential elections in his home country. He is hoping to travel to the US in the Fall of 2012 to report on the US presidential election for the French speaking BBC audience. Working with the BBC has been a "dream job" for Abdou, who put his career in journalism on hold to travel to the US and earn bilingual credentials in journalism and international affairs. While studying at Wright State, Abdou taught French language at the Richard Allen Middle School, and served as a freelance contributor to AfricanGlobalNews.com.