Dr. Khadiagala received his Ph.D. from The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Professional lecturers in African Studies hold positions in federal agencies and international organizations, at other universities, and in the private sector. The African Studies Program Office Coordinator is Theresa Taylor Simmons . All M.A. candidates must achieve oral and written proficiency in at least one foreign language, and Ph.D. candidates in a second language or quantitative methods. French, Arabic and Portuguese are the program languages.
Intensive instruction is offered in elementary, intermediate and advanced classes.
Other African languages are offered in the Washington area to SAIS students by special arrangement. In the fourth semester, students submit a major research paper . The paper should be of publishable quality and may be the product of a regular course or of supervised independent research. It is due on April 1 of the second year and must be approved before the oral examination can be scheduled. A prize for the best paper is awarded at graduation.