ASWA Board Members

Denis G. Antoine also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT), and is the former Chairman of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American (OAS). He served as Grenada’s Ambassador to the United States of America Permanent Representative to the Organization of American (OAS) in Washington, DC, and non-resident Ambassador for Grenada to Mexico and Panama, concurrently, from 1995 to 2009. In addition, he served as a senior member of Grenada’s delegation to United Nations General Assembly from 2000-2008. In his capacity as head of Grenada’s diplomatic missions, Ambassador Antoine performed many functions. This included serving as Deputy Head of Mission, and Counselor/Alternate Representative to the OAS in Washington, D.C and as Charge d’Affairs from May 1985- December 1990 in Washington, D.C. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador, Dr. Antoine served as a Program Specialist for the government of the District of Columbia and as Education Supervisor for the District of Columbia Public Schools until 1995. Dr. Antoine has more than seventeen years of high level diplomatic experience in the United States, Mexico, Panama, and the Inter-American System. His long time dedicated service in international diplomacy was recognized when he was selected as the recipient of the 2008 Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Award for International Service. Dr. Antoine has headed numerous diplomatic delegations. He was the only Ambassador from the Western Hemisphere to serve as Head of Delegation to the Special Economic Summit of the Americas in Nuevo Leon, Mexico – January 2004. As Ambassador, he led his country delegation to the Special General Assembly in Lima Peru for the signing of the Inter American Democratic Charter that took place on September 11, 2001. He served as Head of Delegation to the 4th Summit of the Americas in Mar Del Plata, Argentina; a member of Grenada’s delegation to the Caribbean and United States Foreign Ministers Meeting at the Caribbean, a member of delegation to the US Caribbean Summit in Bridgetown, Barbados. Ambassador Antoine headed diplomatic delegations to: The People’s Republic of China, three to Taiwan; for the OAS to the Meeting of the Community of Democracies in Seoul Korea; and UNESCO in France. He represented Grenada as Head of Delegation to more than six OAS General Assemblies and other specialized Ministerial meetings and hemispheric bodies throughout the Western Hemisphere. He served as Head of delegation to the General Assembly of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Head of Delegation and presenter at the World Trade Organization round of negotiations in Seattle, Washington, as well as, senior advisor for Grenada’s delegation to the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Americas in Santiago Chile, and Quebec City, Canada. As former Dean of the Corps of Ambassadors of the Western Hemisphere, he represented Grenada on the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD). He has chaired various OAS Committees, served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development and Vice Chair for the Committee on Hemispheric Security; he served as coordinator of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Corps of Ambassadors in Washington, DC. In addition, he serves as chairman and board member of several charitable foundations. Dr. Antoine earns his PhD in Management from LaSalle University, an MS in Organizational Management from National-Louis University, and an MA in Education from the University of the District of Columbia.

Associate Professor of History
Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles

Professor Melissa Pacome, an Africanist scholar, offers courses on West Africa, the African Diaspora and Women in Africa. Her research interests include West African intellectual history, indigenous thought, pre-colonial state formation, political culture and democratization within francophone African nations, with particular emphasis on Côte d'Ivoire. She has carried out archival research in several countries, including France (Colonial Archives at Aix-en-Provence), Senegal (National Archives and French West Africa Archives), Mali (National Archives) and Côte d'Ivoire (National Archives of Côte d'Ivoire, and holdings at the Ministry of Women's Condition, the National Assembly and Odienne Prefecture). In pursuing her interest in indigenous ideologies and the cultural foundations of contemporary African politics, Professor Melissa Pacome has collected hundreds of hours of oral testimonies in Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire. She is the recipient of study and research awards from the Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Fulbright-Hayes Program, and Ministry of National Education of Côte d'Ivoire, Carter G. Woodson Institute, University of Virginia, the West African Research Association, and Howard University. Professor Melissa Pacome is the author of over a dozen articles on the history of women, family, education, economy and politics of various West African communities. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Modern African Studies, Journal of African Studies, Journal of Social History, Annales de l'Université d'Abidjian, African Studies Review, Les cahiers de la paix, West African Research Association Newsletter, and others. She has contributed essays and chapters in African Women: States of Crisis (ed., Gwendolyn Mikell, 1996), The Younger Brother in Mande (eds. Jansen and Zobel, 1996), and The Oxford Companion to the Politics of the World (1993) and is working on a book-length manuscript on political culture in the northwestern region of Côte d'Ivoire. She has presented numerous papers at the annual conferences of the African Studies Association, conferences at the University of Virginia, Howard University, the Smithsonian Institution, and others in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Chad, France and the Netherlands. Professor Melissa Pacome actively supports peace and development efforts in sub-Saharan Africa, and in June 2000 she was awarded a grant by the U.S. Institute for Peace for training of 15 African women in the gender studies conflict management and peace building.

Maman S. Sidikou ambassador of Niger to the United States most recently served as country director for Rwanda (2010) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2010-11) working with USAdvocacy, the United Nations, World Bank and Save the Children to coordinate programming and dialogue with development partners. He was also chief of education for UNICEF in Nigeria (2007-10); U.N. cluster coordinator for education and culture with the UNICEF Programme Irak in Amman, Jordan (2005-07); senior education specialist with the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (2002-05); team leader for the UNICEF Back-To-School Campaign in Kabul, Afghanistan (2001-02); chief of education, water and sanitation with UNICEF in Abuja, Nigeria (2000-01); and human development manager with USAdvocacy in Niamey, Niger (1994-95). Ambassador Sidikou's government experience includes serving as minister and director of the Cabinet of the Presidency in Niger (1999); minister managing Niger's external relations, including negotiations with international and bilateral partners, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and African Integration (1997-99); a minister advisor to the Office of the Presidency (1996-97); and director in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister (1983). In addition, Ambassador Sidikou is a former journalist who worked at the Ministry of Information's Office de Radiodiffusion et Télévision du Niger (ORTN) from 1976 to 1979, serving as director of national television for ORTN from 1979 to 1981. Ambassador Sidikou holds an associate's degree from the Universidad de Madrid in Spain, a diplôme supérieur in journalism from the Université de Dakar in Senegal, a master's degree in communication from the University of Texas at Austin, and a doctorate in adult and non formal education from Florida State University in Tallahassee, where he was also a research associate with the university's Learning Systems Institute's Center for International Studies in the early 1990s. He speaks French, Spanish, English, Hausa and Zarma-Songhay, and is married to Fatima Djibo-Sidikou (a diplomat), and has two children.

Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana
B.A. Physics
University of the District of Columbia
Department of Mathematics, M.S.T. Program
M.S. Mathematics (candidate)
University of Pennsylvania
Graduate School of Education
Executive Doctorate Program in Higher Education Management and Leadership
Ed.D. (candidate) December, 2009
http://www.drthomasbullock.com

Dr. Bullock completed his undergraduate work at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana and earned a degree in Physics. His graduate work has included engineering at Tulane University, mathematics at Georgetown University, and is a candidate for the Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of the District of Columbia as well as a candidate for an Education Doctorate in Higher Education Management and Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. He has served the educational community of Washington, D.C. for more than twenty years as a math and science instructor, teacher trainer, education consultant, and community organizer. Following the path of both his parents, who were DC Public School teachers, Dr. Bullock began his teaching career, in Washington, DC, as a middle school math and science teacher as well as a high school mathematics teacher. He has served for more than seven years as an ABE/GED Math and English instructor in Prince Georges County, Maryland. His approach to teaching mathematics has won him esteemed recognition and national awards. As an adjunct mathematics instructor, Dr. Bullock has also taught graduate level courses at Georgetown University, Towson State University, and Trinity University. He has served as a mathematics educator trainer for the Maryland State Department of Education’s Professional Development Programs and for the DC Adult Literacy Resource Center. He continues to serve as a mathematics professional development trainer for the District of Columbia Public Schools, EdGenuity Consultants, and the Education Trust. In 1989 Dr. Bullock came to Georgetown University and began his work with the Educational Community Involvement Program. He served as director, responsible for educational outreach programs for students, teachers, parents, and administrators in the D.C. area. The Kids to College program, HI/SCIP, and the Schiff Scholars Institute of College Preparation have been recognized as outstanding national models for the college preparation of low-income youth. Mr. Bullock is a successful grant writer. He has consistently received grants in excess of $6 Million. The success of the programs Dr. Bullock created and directed earned him the prestigious recognition as a 2004 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine. Dr. John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, created a new position and appointed Dr. Bullock as Assistant to the President for District of Columbia Education Initiatives. In this role, Dr. Bullock directed all of the education outreach initiatives of the university and worked to establish formal partnerships with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Dr. Bullock was also appointed by Dr. DeGioia to serve as university liaison to the American Council on Education’s “College Is Possible” program. In his senior position at the University and with his math and science background, Dr. Bullock served in the development of the DCPS mathematics and science standards. His expertise in curriculum development also contributed to the establishment of the Reading Across the Curriculum initiative between the DCPS and local universities. Dr. Bullock has also served as President of the Board for the Higher Education Group of Washington, DC and founder of the Higher Education Information Partnership for the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. There are numerous other achievements Dr. Bullock is credited with. Some of them include, helping to establish an advisory board for the DC Public Schools’ Office of Guidance and Counseling; establishing admissions policy for the new McKinley Technology High School; establishment of Ronald H. Brown Middle School as a magnet school for Mathematics, Science, and Technology; co-author of a Hewlett-Wallace grant to establish the College Information Center; author of the DC Public Schools’ Algebra I curriculum; and more impressively, created a pre-college program to serve students targeted in the seventh grade as most likely to fail out of school and achieved for them a 100% high school completion rate, 95% college acceptance rate, and an 85% college completion rate for students who just a few years earlier were identified as least likely to complete high school! Dr. Bullock is featured in many articles; two that demonstrate his commitment to children include:
http://www.hhmi.org/bulletin/summer2004/mentors/mentors2.html
http://www.georgetown.edu/student-affairs/newsletter/nv2i1/nv2i1a4.html