Faculty Director
Anna Estes, Faculty Director of Ecology and Anthropology in Tanzania and Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Dr. Anna Estes (aestes@carleton.edu) is an ecologist with over 20 years of experience teaching and doing research in Tanzania, where she also spent part of her childhood. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, her MS from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and her BA from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. As an ecologist and conservationist, Anna’s goal is to produce science that can help further human-wildlife coexistence.
Anna’s primary interests are in human-wildlife interactions through the lens of changing landscapes and habitats. Her research has included land-use impacts to biodiversity and ecosystem health, landscape-level predictors of human-wildlife conflict, land-cover change around protected areas, wildlife movement, habitat use and population connectivity, human demography and movement, and eco-health and zoonotic diseases. She loves teaching and has been involved in experiential education for almost 20 years. She is also particularly committed to expanding STEM education and opportunities, particularly in ecology and human-environment interactions, to groups that have been under-represented in these fields. She is an adjunct professor in Life Sciences at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology in Arusha, Tanzania, and a member of the IUCN African Elephant and Connectivity Conservation Specialist Groups.
Course Instructors
SOAN 326: Cultural Anthropology of East Africa
Dr. Ahmed Sh. Ibrahim (aibrahim@carleton.edu) is a socio-cultural anthropologist with a PhD from the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). He earned his undergraduate degrees in Global Studies, International Relations, and Political Science from the University of Minnesota. He has held teaching positions at several insitutions including Carleton College, Hunter College (CUNY), the University of Dar es Salaam, and Mogadishu University. Dr. Ibrahim has done research in East Africa and among the African diaspora in the U.S. with a focus on the anthropology of religion and politics. His research has appeared in academic journals, edited volumes, and popular websites such as Africa is a Country and Responsible Statecraft.
AFST 101-07: Elementary Swahili
Said Omar is Head of Programs and Intercultural Unit at MS TCDC. He has been teaching Swahili for the past ten years. His passion for language and teaching was inspired by his mother and his own language learning and cultural exchange experiences. Upon receiving his bachelor’s degree in Arabic and English, Omar worked as a Swahili-English translator, interpreter, and instructor for several years before being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 2014. As a Fulbright Scholar, Omar taught Swahili at Michigan State University where he also studied several courses in applied linguistics and pedagogy. He has continued developing his career as a Swahili Language Instructor ever since and completed his master’s degree in Swahili in 2018. He’s currently perusing PhD in Kiswahili (Applied Linguistics) at the University of Dar es Salaam and is the head of Programs and Intercultural Unit at MS TCDC.
Maureen Ndelema is a Language Trainer at MS TCDC. She holds a BA in Procurement and Logistics Management. Having always had an interest in working internationally, Maureen was drawn to TCDC because of its global reach, and was thrilled when she found work here as an Assistant Administrator and Program Coordinator with the Swahili Intercultural Department in 2016. In this role, she has provided crucial support to international programs coming through TCDC’s intercultural department to study Swahili and Culture where she developed an interest in teaching Swahili and Culture. In 2018, she began training as a Swahili language instructor and was later brought to teach different study-abroad Programs. Maureen has been engaging with the Carleton Program for the past two years teaching Swahili and Culture. Currently, she is enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma program in Education and intends to pursue an MA degree in Swahili Studies in the near future.
ENTS 355: Ecology and Conservation of Savanna Ecosystems in Northern Tanzania
Dr. Anna Estes is the instructor for Ecology and Conservation of Savanna Ecosystems in Northern Tanzania.
ENTS 255: Field Methods in Ecology and Anthropology
Dr. Anna Estes and Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim share the teaching responsibilities for Field Methods in Ecology and Anthropology.
MS Training Centre for Development Cooperation Leadership and Staff
Dr. Irene Mkini Lugalla is a lecturer and the Academic Dean at MS TCDC. She holds an MA in Development Studies from the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague, where she majored in Women, Gender, and Development. She earned a PhD from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands where her research focused on women’s business growth and development.
Dr. Lugalla provides coaching and capacity to organizations in gender equality processes: gender mainstreaming, gender analysis and gender audits. Dr. Lugalla has designed and delivered a range of gender training workshops such as Gender Audit, Gender Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in Management, and Gender Equality and Emotional Intelligence. She has advanced skills and experiences in building capacities within organizations, and providing technical coaching and mentorship.
Dr. Lugalla provided consultancy services to Parenting without Violence (PwV), a Save the Children project in Zanzibar. Her work with PwV focused on the use of gender transformational approaches and social inclusion to address violence against children.
Her recent publication is: Mkini Lugalla, I., Jacobs, J.P. & Westerman, W., 2023. What Drives Women Entrepreneurs in Tourism in Tanzania? Journal of African Business, pp.1-19.
Juliana Shem is a Senior Program Officer at MS TCDC. She holds an MA in Educational Management and Leadership and a BA in Economics and Sociology. She has over 10 years of experience designing and coordinating programs and projects. She is a trained peer counselor cum peer educator. She is also trained in curriculum development, delivery and assessment. She is experienced in partnership development and managament. She is passionate about individual and organizational capacity development, research, and development work. She believes in every situation being a learning situation.
Nimpher Lucas Bureta is the Swahili Program Coordinator. Her background is in library and information management. She joined MS TCDC in 2017, as an assistant program coordinator and now serves as the Swahili course and program coordinator. Nimpher oversees program logistics and participant support, including host family coordination. With a passion for networking, she thrives in the diverse environment at MS TCDC. Excited about her ongoing post-graduate diploma in education, and ready to leverage her newfound knowledge for the promotion of the Swahili language in areas crucial to development making language and cultural understanding integral to sustainable progress.
Program Assistant
The program assistant will be announced in early June.