His Excellency Antonio Mascarenhas Monteiro, the first democratically elected president of the Republic of Cape Verde will share his thoughts about leadership at a talk on Monday, October 1, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the UMass Dartmouth Library Browsing Area.

Entitled, "The Obstacles of Leadership and Prospective for the Future," the lecture is free and open to the general public as well as the campus community. Parking is available in lot 13. Sponsored by the African and African-American Studies Department and College of Arts and Sciences, the talk is expected to attract local dignitaries of Cape Verdean descent.

Prof. Chidiebere Nwaubani, department director said, "It's a major event any time you have a sitting or former president of a country, especially one that was elected to the office, give a talk. There's so much to gain from hearing someone in such a position...And with a huge Cape Verdean population in our region, this is an example of the university's outreach to the community."

Monteiro served as president of the Republic of Cape Verde from 1991-2001.  During his term in office, he was actively involved in many international human rights organizations including his role as chairman of the Third Conference on Regional System of Human Rights Protection in Africa and Europe.  He participated in the Organization of African Unity's mission to Angola following the country's first free elections in 1992.

Monteiro is currently the fifth Lloyd G. Balfour African President-in-Residence at Boston University's African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC). That program enables former democratically-elected African heads of state to spend up to two years at BU, sharing insights on contemporary trends in Africa and interacting with political, religious, academic and community leaders throughout the United States.

For more information about the program, contact Prof. Nwaubani at 508.910.6617 or CNwaubani@umassd.edu.