The Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen), in collaboration with the Department of Sociology at Michigan State University (MSU), is pleased to welcome Dr. Godisang Mookodi, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Botswana (UB), to campus in early October 2025. 

Dr. Mookodi is a Visiting Senior Scholar at MSU for the 2025–26 academic year and serves as a mentor for the African Futures Research Leadership Program, led by the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP). Her visit marks a significant milestone in GenCen’s commitment to building and sustaining global partnerships in gender research and education through the establishment of global gender centers. Dr. Mookodi is the projected foundational director for the soon to be established Gender Center at UB 

The establishment of the Gender Center at UB is the outcome of decades of persistent advocacy by feminist scholars on campus. In the summer of 2025, Soma Chaudhuri (Co-Director, GenCen) and Jose Jackson-Malete (Co-Director, AAP) along with Dr. Mookodi and several gender scholars at UB, participated in a pivotal meeting at the University of Botswana in Gaborone with Vice Chancellor Dr. David Norris, a fellow Spartan, where discussions to formalize the Gender Center moved forward in meaningful ways. 

During her visit to MSU, Dr. Mookodi, together with Dr. Portia Loeto (African Futures Fellow at MSU and Lecturer at UB), delivered a joint presentation hosted by GenCen and the Department of Sociology. Their talk examined the long history of feminist advocacy at UB, the structural and institutional challenges encountered along the way, and the emerging vision for the new Gender Center. The session was facilitated by Aminda Smith (Co-Director, GenCen), with remarks from Jose Jackson-Malete and Soma Chaudhuri.