**Full Bio: [A. Ghafar Lakanwal, Ph.D.]{.underline}**

Dr. Ghafar Lakanwal is a native of Afghanistan, a Muslim and an American
citizen. He was born and raised in Afghanistan. Dr. Lakanwal studied
Agricultural Science at the Kabul University of Afghanistan. After
finishing his doctorate at the Institute of Rural Sociology and Applied
Psychology at the University of Hohenheim in Germany, he worked for the
German International Development Agency until 1978. In August of that
year, Dr. Lakanwal returned to his country to be part of the social and
economic changes that were introduced by the new government. In December
of 1979, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

Dr. Lakanwal still wanted to be part of the process of change. He worked
as a Deputy Minister of Agriculture and was elected President and CEO of
the first "Afghan Framers Cooperatives Union" In March of 1982, he was
appointed to the position of Minister of Agriculture. From 1984-1986,
Dr. Lakanwal was elected Chair of the governing council of the South
Asian Cooperative Environmental Program, headquartered in Colombo, Sri
Lanka. In 1986, because of his opposition to the government policies, he
was released from all positions he hold in the government and at the
People Democratic Party. He was confined to his house under security
watch for two years, until February 1988. The political changes in the
former Soviet Union led by Mikhail Gorbachev also brought changes in Dr.
Lakanwal's life. He was released from house arrest in February 1988.
From March to December of 1988, Dr. Lakanwal was Deputy Foreign Minister
and head of the Afghan Delegation to the United Nations General
Assembly. While in New York, he asked the United States government for
political asylum. In February 1996, he became a citizen of the United
States of America.

In October 1991, Ghafar Lakanwal founded the MultiCultural Development
Center, previously called, the Minnesota Cultural Diversity Center, a
non-profit organization that promotes multicultural understanding and
inclusiveness in the workplace as well as in the community. He developed
and has nurtured the "Sharing Diversity"^TM^ concept for MCDC since its
founding in 1991. Dr. Lakanwal is the Executive Director since inception
of the center, a practitioner, event coordinator and a speaker in the
area of cultural diversity. He has traveled to over 30 countries and
speaks English, German, Russian, Persian and his native language,
Pashtoo.

Dr. Lakanwal has received many awards for his service to the community.
In 1997, he was presented with the Exemplary Practices Award from the
American Society for Public Administration. In 2001, he was the
recipient of the Omar Bonderud Award given by the Human Rights
Commission of the City of Bloomington. In 2002, Mayor Kelly appointed
Dr. Lakanwal to lead a taskforce on cultural relations in St. Paul. In
2003, he was nominated for the Community Builders Award, presented by
Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2005, Dr. Lakanwal, together
with his wife Laila, received the International Leadership Institute\'s
Immigrant Achievement Award. Since 2002, Dr. Lakanwal also has been
active as the founder and board member of the Partnership for Education
of Children in Afghanistan (PECA), a non-profit organization working to
build schools in Afghanistan.