Dominic Mhiripiri '12 is surrounded by books in a cubicle on the 13th floor of the Sciences Library, which is a long way from his home in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. Mhiripiri is the University's first Advancing Africa Scholar, a title that comes with a lot of responsibility.
"My coming to Brown, into America, is something that young people can look up to," Mhiripiri said. "I need to be exemplary for those who I had to deal with, work with, live with in Zimbabwe - I need to be someone they can emulate."
Mhiripiri is the first student to benefit from the Advancing Africa Scholarship, which was announced by President Ruth Simmons and Israeli businessman Idan Ofer P'12 in January. The scholarship comes from a $5.75 million gift from Ofer to fund a full Brown undergraduate education for students from sub-Saharan Africa.
The scholarship pays the students' travel expenses for two trips back to their home countries during their time at Brown. But it also requires that the students sign a pledge to return to Africa for at least two years following graduation, with the idea of encouraging recipients to make positive social change at home.
As the endowment established by Ofer grows, multiple students will benefit from the scholarship each year, Simmons said.
Ofer's decision to choose Brown to realize his philanthropic goals is nothing new to the University, Simmons said. "People would be surprised to know about individuals who make contributions to and spearhead programs at Brown without having a direct relationship with Brown," she said.
From the beginning, Ofer had clear goals in mind for the scholarship, Simmons said. "Our main goal in the initial stages was to think about how to shape the language and about how responsive it was to what he wanted," she said.
After a relatively short planning process, Simmons and Ofer announced the program at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
The announcement of the program at the World Economic Forum was publicized in periodicals and newspapers throughout sub-Saharan African countries, Miller said.
"I heard about the scholarship at the time of its announcement in Davos," said Mila Owen '12, who is from Zimbabwe.
All but two of Owen's graduating high school class left Zimbabwe for college, she said, so she thought programs that encourage students to come back afterwards are especially valuable. "It's really the brightest people who will take the initiative to apply and leave the country," Owens said. "It is wonderful that as a result of the scholarship, students return to their countries and ... use their skills."
Simmons said she hopes the program is only one step in allowing Brown to become more globalized. "If you look at the world today, you are talking about a greater interconnectedness of the world," she said. "In order to understand the problems of the world, you need to internationalize education."
"My nightmare is that Brown students will be running the world and won't know how to do it," she added. "They should know other languages and they need to leave that immediate circle, since an educated life is all about leaving, venturing out and knowing about more of the world."
Students selected for the scholarship must apply with the regular admissions pool, and the scholarship is awarded only after students are admitted, said Dean of Admission James Miller '73.
"We are looking for students from a sub-Saharan country who present the same kind of attributes that other Brown students present, such as academic achievement and leadership potential," Miller said.
Though the name of the scholarship recipient is not publicly announced, the admissions office has tried to make the scholarship visible to students living in sub-Saharan nations, Miller said.
"We are hoping that the scholarship will bring visibility to Brown in sub-Saharan communities, and to be iconic, and let them know that there is a scholarship," he said. "We want to draw their attention to Brown and its educational programs."
The scholarship is not the only help Mhiripiri has received to ease his journey from Zimbabwe to Brown. After attending a small public school in Chitungwiza for four years, Mhiripiri won a scholarship to attend ILSA College in Harare, Zimbabwe. After two years he was eventually chosen as one of 20 students to participate in the United States Student Achievers Program, which was founded by alum Rebecca Mano '87.
USAP helped Mhiripiri practice for his SAT exams, write college essays and send out college applications.
Mhiripiri, who has not decided on a concentration, said he hopes he can use his achievements to paint a brighter picture of Africa. "Africa has long been regarded as the underdeveloped continent," he said. "We all need to change the world's perception of (it)."
"I want to go through Brown's education to give something back to the continent," he said. "We need to educate African students to allow Africans to help themselves."
