Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee

Committee Mission

The Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee is dedicated to honoring the memory of  Dr. Alison Des Forges (1942-2009), an inspirational and tireless crusader for human rights around the world. Through a variety of fundraising and awareness campaigns, the Committee seeks to continue Alison’s quest to educate people about injustices in the world and the part we all must play in mitigating them as members of an increasingly interdependent global community.

Committee History

After the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407 in February 2009, the Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee was spontaneously formed by members of her family, friends, and colleagues. Dedicated to honoring Alison’s life and work, the Committee increases awareness in Western New York about abuses of human rights and raises funds to provide scholarships at the University at Buffalo for outstanding Buffalo Public School graduates committed to defending human rights and social justice. The Committee has established an endowment at the University at Buffalo Foundation to award a four-year scholarship each year in perpetuity to one Buffalo Public School graduate. The Committee also organizes an international symposium each year on issues relating to human rights with particular attention to Africa. Last, the Committee confers an annual Award for Activism in Human Rights to honor the work of individuals or organizations from Western New York.

Committee Members

Ellen Dussourd • Co-Chair
Prof. Shaun Irlam • Co-Chair
Prof. Emeritus James Bono • Treasurer
Laura Mangan • Secretary
Prof. Emeritus Roger Des Forges
Susan Lee
Menna-Kristina Mbah
Prof. Ndubueze Mbah
Prof. Satpal Singh 
John N. Walsh III
Prof. Emeritus Claude Welch
John J. Wood

Governance

The all-volunteer Committee includes friends and colleagues of Alison and others who learned about her work and wanted to ensure it continued. The Committee meets monthly during the academic year.  There are multiple subcommittees, both standing committees such as the Scholarship and Award Subcommittees, as well as ad hoc committees focused on a single event or initiative.

committee member bios

James Bono is Associate Professor Emeritus of History and Medicine at the University at Buffalo, Past-President of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, and founding editor of the journal Configurations.  He is author of The Word of God and the Languages of Man: Interpreting Nature in Early Modern Science and Medicine, vol. 1, Ficino to Descartes, co-editor of Ethical Issues in Health Care on the Frontiers of the Twenty-First Century, and of A Time for the Humanities: Futurity and the Limits of Autonomy.  He has been a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University; an Eccles Fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center, University of Utah; a recipient of several National Science Foundation grants, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library.  His interests include the cultural history of science and medicine; language, religion, society and the Scientific Revolution; the history of the body and sexuality; metaphor and narrative in science; and the role of medical humanities and the narrative construction of illness and the physician-patient relationship in fostering cultural and structural competence leading to universal access to health care and social justice, especially for vulnerable peoples and groups.  He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Roger V. Des Forges met Alison B. Liebhafsky when he served as president of the general assembly and she served as secretary general at a Model United Nations.  He majored in Public and International Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University while she majored in European and African History in Radcliffe College at Harvard University.  Upon graduation, they married, did their doctoral studies at Yale University, and conducted field and archival research in Rwanda and Taiwan.  They taught History at Middlebury College for one year before coming to Buffalo in 1972.  Roger taught Chinese, Asian, and World History at the University at Buffalo for over four decades.  Alison taught African History at several universities and helped found the Bennett Park Montessori Center to promote the peaceful integration of Buffalo's public schools.  In the 1990s, she volunteered at the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch and worked to protect human rights in Rwanda before, during, and after the genocide.  Roger is proud that their children, Alexander and Jessie (and their families), are carrying on Alison's legacy by teaching and studying in Boston’s public schools and the University of Massachusetts at Boston.  He is grateful to the all-volunteer members of the Memorial Committee, particularly its past and present officers, to generous donors to the endowment fund, and to the Alison Des Forges Memorial Scholarship awardees for keeping alive Alison’s passion for defending human rights and advancing social justice.

Ellen Dussourd retired as Assistant Vice Provost and Director of International Student and Scholar Services at the University at Buffalo (UB) after serving in that role for nineteen years.  Before joining UB, she had a twenty-year career in Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language classroom teaching, teacher training and program administration, including two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer TEFL teacher in Kousseri, Cameroon, two years as a Fulbright lecturer training future English teachers at the École Normale Supérieure in Nouakchott, Mauritania (République Islamique de la Mauritanie) and eight years as Director of Interlink Language Center’s Intensive English Program at Indiana State University.  A graduate of Georgetown University, the School for International Training and the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird), Ellen also studied and taught in Japan, the U.S.S.R. and France.  It has been a privilege for Ellen to serve on the Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee and to work with its members, all of whom are exceptionally dedicated individuals making invaluable contributions to advancing Alison’s legacy of human rights and social justice.

Shaun Irlam grew up in Cape Town, South Africa and completed an MA at the University of Cape Town.  He came to the United States in 1985 and received his PhD in Comparative Literature at the Humanities Center of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  He joined the Department of Comparative Literature at the University at Buffalo in 1993.  He served as the Interim Chair of the Department of Africana and American Studies for three years.  Since 2001 he has been Director of a UB Study Abroad Program in Africa that take students to study in South Africa, Kenya and Rwanda each summer.  His own research on the Rwandan genocide led to his acquaintance with Alison Des Forges in 2005.  He was a founding member of the Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee in 2010 and has been Co-chair of the Committee with Ellen Dussourd since 2014.

Susan Lee joined the committee at the invitation of Irving Massey, a mutual friend of the Des Forges family.  Susan’s late husband, physician Richard V. Lee, had been a colleague of Roger’s for many years, brought together by a mutual interest in Chinese history.  Married for fifty-two years, Susan supported her husband’s interest in international health and tropical medicine that led to a life punctuated with travel to isolated populations and developing urban areas.  They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with their teenage sons on a trans-Himalayan trek from Srinagar to Ladakh in northern India, led by expert Kashmiri guides and crew.  This was the first of what became annual medical treks with health professionals, anthropologists, and others.  Other treks and travels spanned the world, including Northern Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, China, and South East Asia.  Susan and her husband established a fund to support Tibetan students and Tibetan studies at UB after Dr. Lee’s work with Tibetan refugees in India.  Susan sees her life with her vagabond husband as a long, exciting field trip!

Laura Mangan has worked as an administrator in the area of human rights, law, social justice, and public policy for over thirty-five years.  Now an emeritusUniversity at Buffalo staff member, her career there spanned twenty-seven years, during which she was Coordinator of the Civic Engagement and Public Policy research initiative, and Deputy Director of UB Law School’s Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy.  She has had a keen interest in Africa since working at the BBC World Service Africa, studying African History at the University of Sussex, and spending most of the 1980s in Africa.  Initially travelling to Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi, she then worked in South Africa in the University of the Witwatersrand’s Centre for Applied Legal Studies and at the Cape Town Legal Resources Center.  Her subsequent life at the University at Buffalo was made possible by two friends of Alison, public international law professor, Virginia Leary, and political science professor, Claude Welch, for whom she worked to found the UB Human Rights Center, where Alison was a visiting speaker.

Menna-Kristina Mbah works as Director of Proposal Development in the Office of Research Advancement at the University at Buffalo (UB), where she assists faculty with their research grant applications.  Prior to moving to Buffalo, Menna worked as a Program Officer at the National Democratic Institute in Washington, D.C., focusing on issues of democracy and governance in Central and West Africa.  She holds an M.A. in African History from Michigan State University, and an Ed.M. in Higher Education Administration from UB.  Menna has traveled to and worked in Cameroon, Nigeria and Liberia.  In Liberia, she worked with civil society groups and the Liberian legislature on advocacy regarding women’s rights, environmental conservation, and clean water issues.

Ndubueze L. Mbah is Associate Professor of History and Associate Professor of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University at Buffalo (UB).  He earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University​, and specializes in the social and cultural history of West Africa and the Atlantic world. In his research and teaching, he addresses how slavery, imperialism, and religion have transformed the West African region.  An author of several research articles and a new book on slavery, gender, and sexuality in the Bight of Biafra, his scholarship reveals how global economic exchanges over the past 300 years have continually shaped identity and knowledge systems among various West African communities.  He is a recipient of various prestigious fellowships, including from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. 

Reverien Mfizi was Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations at SUNY Geneseo.  His research and teaching interests are in comparative politics and international relations, and his research focuses primarily on civil conflicts, political violence, economic disparities in post-conflict countries, post-conflict reconstruction, and political settlements. He is also interested in African politics, specifically in Africa’s Great Lakes region. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University at Buffalo. 

Satpal Singh is Professor of Pharmacology Emeritus at the University at Buffalo, and directed an annual summer-long research program at the University of Cambridge, U.K.  He writes and speaks on violence against women, and on human rights issues in general.  He has organized, and participated in, national and international panel discussions on these issues.  He actively participates in interfaith dialogues on diversity, religion and peace.  He is on the Executive Council of Religions for Peace, USA, the Religious Leaders Circle of the Multi-Faith Alliance for Syrian Refugees and the Board of Directors of the Family Justice Center of Erie County.  When Pope Francis visited the U.S. in 2015, Satpal was one of eleven leaders to share the stage and a prayer with him in New York City.  His OpEds on gender, racial, religious and other violence have been published in the Huffington Post.

John N. Walsh III is Chairman of Walsh Duffield Companies and active in support of the Western New York not-for-profit community.  A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, he is an emeritus member of the University at Buffalo (UB) Council and the University at Buffalo Foundation.  His children and the Des Forges children attended the same Montessori school, a public school significantly launched by Alison’s efforts, and they have become lifelong friends and neighbors.  As an interviewer for Yale undergraduate admissions, the Buffalo Urban League, and certain of UB’s scholarship applicants, Jack is thrilled at the legacy of Alison’s work funding opportunity in the lives of our community scholarship recipients. 

Claude Welch is SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University at Buffalo.  His academic specializations include African politics, the roles of armed forces in politics, and human rights.  The defense of human rights has been the major focus of Welch’s research for the past forty years.  He has published fourteen books and close to forty chapters and articles in academic journals.  His books include, notably, Protecting Human Rights in Africa Strategies and Roles of Nongovernmental Organizations (1995), the first book-length major study of human rights NGOs on the African continent, and the edited volume, NGOs and Human Rights: Promise and Performance (2001).  He also co-edited Human Rights in Canada and the United States.  Three of his books have been named Academic Books of the Year by the American Library Association, and he has been given lifetime achievement awards for his scholarship on human rights by both the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association.  Welch has also led courses or workshops dealing with human rights at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, the Chautauqua Institute and elsewhere.  He has traveled widely, particularly in Africa, Asia and Europe, and woven the perspectives of other cultures into his classes, public lectures and research.  His collection of photographs can be viewed here.

John J. Wood serves as Senior Associate Vice Provost for International Education at the University at Buffalo. In that capacity, he supports the Vice Provost in working with all of the functional areas of international education, including international students and scholars, study abroad, exchange programs, and overseas programs. He manages initiatives to partner with deans and faculty in the international area, including the new Office of International Education Research Grants Program, International Faculty Launch Program, and Scholars at Risk Fellowship Program. Prior to joining the Office of International Education in 2003, Wood was an assistant director of the University at Buffalo English Language Institute and for many years taught courses in English as a Second LanguageL, composition, and English and American literature. Following the retirement of the founding Vice Provost, Professor Stephen Dunnett, Wood served as Interim Vice Provost from 2018 to 2021. He earned his PhD in English from the University at Buffalo.

HONORARY COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Helene H. Kramer is honored to have been the Chair of the Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee (2009-2014).  Brought together by their sons, who were enrolled in the same pre-school, and their shared belief in the value of a Montessori education, Alison and Helene were friends for over twenty-five years.  Although their professional paths took quite different forms, they had a common passion for urban education and issues of social justice.  While much of Helene’s early professional life centered around information technology, her second career involved improving educational opportunities for low-income children.  She was the Chief Information Officer at several health-related organizations for over twelve years, including the Erie County Medical Center.  Inspired by Alison’s commitment to public education, and with her help, Helene was elected to an at-large seat on the Buffalo Board of Education, serving as President and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee.  She was also the founding Executive Director of Read to Succeed Buffalo (2003-2011), and convening founder and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Charter School of Inquiry in Buffalo, which serves over 300 children in kindergarten through 6th grade.  Alison was Helene’s hero, a woman of uncommon intelligence and courage, with an unwavering commitment to social justice and human kindness.

Irving Massey was born in Montreal in 1924 to immigrant parents.  He received his B.A. from McGill University, A.M. from Columbia University, and Ph.D. from Harvard University, all in Comparative Literature. He subsequently taught at Wayne State University, Brandeis University, McGill University, and the University at Buffalo, with visiting appointments at the University of Wisconsin, Concordia University, and Shevchenko University in Kyiv, Ukraine.  He was twice a Visiting Scholar at University College, London and, for seven years, was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge.  His daughter, Rachel, was a student of Alison’s at the Montessori School, and took her as a life-long model.  On Alison’s death, Irving thought that it would be important to set up a memorial fund in her name, and began soliciting donations.  Without experience in fundraising, he was more than happy to hand over the effort to the newly formed Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee.  It has been an immense satisfaction to him to see that fledgling undertaking develop into an educational enterprise that does justice to Alison’s memory.

Kenneth Roth was the executive director of Human Rights Watch, a leading international human rights organization operating in more than ninety countries for almost thirty years.  Prior to joining Human Rights Watch in 1987, Roth served as a federal prosecutor in New York and for the Iran-Contra investigation in Washington, D.C.  A graduate of Yale Law School and Brown University, Roth has conducted numerous human rights investigations and missions around the world.  He worked closely with Alison throughout her time at Human Rights Watch and conducted an investigation with her in Rwanda.  Roth has written extensively on a wide range of human rights issues, devoting special attention to international justice, counterterrorism, the foreign policies of the major powers, and the work of the United Nations.

EMERITUS COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Kathleen L. Curtis retired as Associate Director of the University at Buffalo’s (UB) English Language Institute (ELI).  Kathy first met Roger Des Forges when he and Alison were preparing to sponsor a young man from Rwanda to study English at the ELI and then pursue a B.S. degree in economics at UB.  Responsible for credit and non-credit English language instruction at UB, the ELI was established in 1971.  As an original staff member, Kathy was responsible for the ELI’s three divisions:  the Intensive English Program; the Evening Program; and credit courses which are taken by undergraduates to improve their English language proficiency and satisfy UB curricular requirements.  As a UB undergraduate, Kathy majored in anthropology with a focus on Latin American cultures.  Shortly after graduation, she began her career at the then Intensive English Language Institute (IELI).  International education was just beginning to emerge at U.S. higher education institutions and the IELI played an important role in UB’s early years as a leader in that field.  While working full-time as the assistant director, Kathy completed a master’s degree in foreign language education.  As the IELI grew in size and importance, Kathy’s attention turned increasingly to program administration.  Kathy is proud that early ELI students are now sending their own children to the ELI for a similar language learning and cultural experience.

Carole Smith Petro is a graduate of Chatham College, the University at Buffalo (UB) Graduate School of Education, where she received her Ph.D., and Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management.  Her administrative career at UB spanned thirty-five years, during which time she served as Associate Dean, Chief of Staff to the President, and Associate Vice President.  She is a founding member of the Girls Education Collaborative, Inc., and has undertaken various volunteer initiatives to promote opportunities for girls’ education and for women’s professional advancement.  Carole knew Alison during the years she taught in the UB Colleges, an early UB experiment in living-learning collegiate environments.  Their paths also crossed when Carole served as General Manager of WBFO, where Alison was featured on National Public Radio as a commentator on international events.