Josiah Alamu
He’s bringing people together on campus
He just wants people to come together.
And more than that, he wants people to be open and honest with one another to break the stereotypes that exist in the community.
UI graduate student Josiah Alamu said he knew his place on campus as soon as he started as a student in 2003.
“My passion for diversity on campus started when I came to this university,” he said. “I discovered that we have a lot of international students. But I also discovered that there is no interaction, no forum, for them to come together. I had to do something.”
And he did. Alamu is president of the UI Organization for Active Support of International Students, OASIS. He is the former president of the UI African Student Association. Last year, he was appointed to the International Student Recruitment Committee, through the associate provost’s office, as a representative of all international students on campus. He organizes forums on diversity and is trying to put together the second annual “Bridging Fiesta,” a cultural event that showcases the talents of students from every background.
Through all that and his work as a Ph.D. student in epidemiology, he still finds time to organize friendly soccer matches with the UI Chinese Students and Scholars Association.
Alamu said he always has been involved. He started when he was an undergraduate in pharmacy at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Leading just comes naturally, he said.
“The reason why people choose me as their leader is because I want to talk for people and I want to speak for them,” Alamu said. “I just want to come to the forefront and talk about issues that affect people.”
Alamu said getting stereotypes out in the open is key in moving forward together. In October, OASIS co-sponsored a forum on domestic and international diversity to increase interaction between different ethic and racial groups on campus.
“These are things people ordinarily don’t want to talk about,” he said. “We’ve come to a stage where people have to be open.”
Alamu said it is important that more international students are brought to the university. Making scholarships available is one way, he said.
“My goal is to increase international students on campus from 2 to 5 percent to 10 percent,” he said. “That is my dream. I really want to see an institution where students from all nations are represented equally. You don’t need to travel to Afghanistan or Nigeria to experience the culture. Americans appreciate other cultures, just like we appreciate American culture.”
— Kathryn Fiegen
