Campus Connection

[caption id="attachment_2437" align="alignleft" width="500" caption="From left, Ahmed Samatar and his brother, Abdi. Both graduated from UW-L in 1978. Ahmed majored in political science and Abdi majored in geography."][/caption]

 

 

Ahmed Samatar was an inquisitive UW-La Crosse student from Somalia. He loved to learn, pursue political debate and explore international relations, recalls Political Science Professor Joe Heim. Today Samatar, ’78, is taking those interests to the political landscape of his native Somalia where he recently made a run for president. Samatar was defeated by newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. “Thinking and doing have always been part of each other,” Samatar told Minnesota Public Radio during the race. “The moment has arrived in which I, too, would like to see if my own ideas can be planted on the soil of Somali politics, and might be therefore able to have the Somali community move beyond war, chaos, famine, and corruption.” Samatar took a sabbatical from his position as an international studies professor at Macalester College in St. Paul to make the run. Heim says it doesn’t shock him that Samatar went into politics. He showed signs in class of a successful future. “He was an extraordinarily brilliant student,” says Heim. “He took courses that were the most difficult and he didn’t take them just to get through to a degree. It’s really because he was very inquisitive about things.” Both Ahmed and his brother, Abdi, are recipients of the UW-L Alumni Association’s Maurice O. Graff Distinguished Alumni Award. The honor recognizes alumni who attended at least 20 years ago and have achieved honor and distinction with recognition that extends well beyond the immediate environments in which they live and work. Read the La Crosse Tribune story.