African Traditional Leadership

For more than four decades in higher education, Professor Jacob U. Gordon, Ph.D., LL.D has devoted a lot of his research, teaching and public service to African Studies and the Black experience in the Diaspora. His focus includes public policy issues, human/civil rights, organizational capacity building and sustainability, transformational leadership, public health issues and educational systems.

Among his scholarly works are 21 books, numerous academic journal articles, book chapters, monographs, research reports, and editorial works and media presentations. He received and managed about $4.5 million in research grants and public service during his tenure at the University of Kansas. At the moment he is engaged in four research projects: (1)African Presidential Papers and Libraries (APPL), funded by the Open Society Initiative of West Africa (OSIWA); (2) Trends in African Studies; (3) Revisiting Kwame Nkrumah: Pathways for the Future; and (4) History of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana.

Professor Gordon’s administrative experiences include Chairman of the Department of History and Political Science, Albany State University, Georgia, 1967-1970, Founder and Chairman of the Department of African and African American Studies at the University of Kansas, 1970-1980; Executive Director of the Center for Leadership University of Kansas, 1980-2004; and currently as President and Chief Executive Officer of American Health Coalition, Inc., a non-profit organization promoting health world-wide. Professor Gordon is the recipient of many awards and honors, including Who’s Who Among Black Americans; University of Kansas Faculty Outstanding Public Service Award; Contemporary Authors Award; Phi Alpha Theta National Honor Society Award in History; Directory of American Scholars; Fulbright Senior Specialist; and the establishment of the Jacob U. Gordon Collection in the University of Kansas Research Library.

Professor Jacob Gordon currently lives in Accra, Ghana where he is serving as the Kwame Nkrumah Endowed Chair in Africa Studies at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.