Gabriel Kuiatse, MBA (Chair)
Mr. Gabriel Kuiatse has 28 years experience in the Oil and Gas Industry. He has spent most of his career with Schlumberger where he started as a field engineer. He then occupied various management positions as Training Center Manager based in UK in charge of training and developing field engineers, field technicians and front line managers; Operations Manager Well Service and WCP for West and South Africa; Marketing Manager Schlumberger Oilfield Services for West and South Africa . He also served as Marketing Manager Schlumberger Well Completions and Productivity for Europe and Africa for based in Paris. He is currently a Global Account Manager based in Houston. He is also the current President of LAFABAH (La Famille Bamileke of Houston). Mr. Kuiatse holds an MBA from the University of Surrey UK
Joyce Ashuntantang, PhD
Dr. Joyce Ashuntantang, actress, screen writer, film producer and poet, is a major force in contemporary Anglophone Cameroonian culture. As a founding member of Cameroon Flame Players and member of Yaoundé University Theater, she starred in numerous stage and TV plays. Her full length film, Potent Secrets (2001), is an undisputable milestone in her nation’s film industry. Her awards include, “The Spirit of Detroit Award” from the Mayor of Detroit, 1987, Cameroon Cultural Festival Awards 1989 and 1994, Outstanding Women in Action Award, Cameroon, 2002, and MOHWA Cameroon, “women making a difference” award, 2010. Dr. Ashuntantang earned a BA in Modern English Studies from the University of Yaoundé, A Masters in Library and information Science from the University College of Wales, U.K. She also earned an M.A. in English, M.Phil and a Ph.D in English from the City University of New York. She is the author of Landscaping Postcoloniality: the Dissemination of Anglophone Cameroon Literature. Her short story, “My Mother’s Recipe” just got published in the ground breaking anthology, speaking for the Generations: Contemporary Short stories from Africa. Her collection of poetry, A Basket of Flaming Ashes is highly anticipated. She is the CEO/founder of EduART INC, a non-profit organization created to promote art as a medium for social change. Currently professor of English and African Literature at the University of Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
Augustine Ayuk, PhD
Augustine E. Ayuk, is Assistant Professor of Political Science, Clayton State University. He earned his undergraduate and Masters degrees at Georgia College and State University and a Ph.D. in Political Science at Clark Atlanta University in 2001 and previously taught at Kennesaw State University and the University of West Georgia. He is married to Esther Ayuk and we have three children.
Dr. Ayuk’s areas of interest include electoral politics in Africa, African Political Economy, African International Relations, leadership and political institutions in Africa. His article “Privatization in Cameroon and Costa Rica: A Comparative Analysis.” Published, In the Proceedings of the Georgia Political Science Association (an on-line journal 2008), undertakes a cross-national study of privatization by both countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s, focusing on the challenges encountered and how both countries resolved these problems. In addition, he made contributions to a custom edition textbook, We the People: Reflections on American Politics at the University of West Georgia. He reviewed “Electoral Violence in Africa: A Continent’s Soft Political Underbelly.” for publication in the Proceedings of the Georgia Political Science Association 2008. He is currently reviewing “Contemporary Igbo Nationalism and the Crisis of Self-Determination in the Nigerian Public Sphere” for publication in the African Studies Review. He is working on a manuscript, “Western Union, Money Gram and Cell Phones: How Remittances have created a ‘new and ungrateful breed in Africa.”
Gwendoline Shang, M.D.
Dr. Gwendoline Shang, often called “Gwen” works as a clinical scientist with Johnson & Johnson. In her current engagement, Dr. Shang is involved in research and development for Johnson & Johnson’s immunology division focusing on new therapies for Psoriasis – A growing disease that affects more than 7.5million patients in the US alone and 125million people worldwide.
She is a graduate of the University of Pavia, Italy where she studied Medicine & Surgery focusing on Pediatric Surgery. Dr. Shang graduated within the scheduled 6 years of the medical training program, an achievement which less than 5% of medical students in Italy attain. Her experience in the field included working as a surgical assistant to Professor G. Parigi (MD) at the Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy, assisting in more than 150 surgeries over her 3year tenure at the hospital.
Gwen is involved in various community organizations that mentor young Africans, but her main focus is her work with the Shemka Foundation, along with her siblings. The organization was created in honor of their late father, Simon Shemka Shang. The goal of the Shemka Foundation is to provide affordable healthcare and education to local communities in and around Yaounde and hopefully expand to other rural areas in Cameroon.
Gwen speaks four (4) International Languages fluently along with a host of Cameroonian languages.
Aside from career activities, Gwen loves gardening, traveling, listening to good music, remodeling and hosting family & friends to exotic Italian and African dishes and most of all, spending quality time with her loving partner.