PROFESSOR EPHRAIM ISAAC Nominated by Tigist Mekonen
PROFESSOR EPHRAIM ISAAC is the founder of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University and was the first professor when the department was created in 1969. He is widely known in Ethiopia as the founder and mastermind of the National Literacy Campaign that made millions of Ethiopians literate in the late sixties.
Born in Ethiopia where he got his early education, Professor Ephraim Isaac holds a B.A. degree in philosophy, chemistry and music from Concordia College, an M.Div., a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from Harvard University, a D.H.L. honorary from John J. Colleage of CUNY, and a Litt. D. Honorary from Addis Ababa University. He has also received many honors including the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding’s 2002 Peacemaker in Action Award. Professor Ephraim Isaac lectures widely on the subject of Religion and society and sits Boards of some twenty-five international religious, educational and cultural organizations. And he is author of numerous articles and books on Jewish and Ancient Ethiopic literatures.
He is currently Director of the Institute of Semitic Studies at Princeton in New Jersey; Chair of the Board of the Horn of Africa Peace & Development Committee and President of the Yemenite Jewish Federation of America. He has taught at Princeton University, Hebrew University, University of Pennsylvania, Bard College and other institutions of higher learning.
Professor Ephraim Isaac is also famous for knowing at least seven languages. But more importantly, he is known to wear traditional Ethiopian outfits all the time which has come to be his hallmark. Among the many contributions he has made to Ethiopia over the years, his vigorous campaign to eradicate illiteracy from Ethiopia was by far the most far-reaching and revolutionary and it should always be remembered.
