NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

11 September 1997

Press Release
BIO/3100

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

19970911 Biographical Note

André Mwamba Kapanga, the new Permanent Representative of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Mr. Kapanga has been Associate Professor at Illinois State University in the United States since August 1993, where he began in 1993 as Assistant Professor and coordinator of the teacher education programme. Prior to that, from 1989, he was Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska. Courses taught included foreign language learning and methodology; French language, phonetics, stylistics and advanced grammar; and general linguistics. Along with his academic work, Mr. Kapanga served as Vice-Chair on the Executive Committee of the All North American Conference on Zaire (1994-1996). He subsequently became Chair of its Board of Directors (for the period 1996- 1999). The Conference is a group of Congolese professors, professionals and graduate students who worked to end dictatorship and implement democracy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mr. Kapanga is also the creator, owner and administrator of the Internet discussion group and news outlets "Congo-L" and "Congo-News". During his 13 years of university-level teaching experience, he has earned such laurels as the Distinguished Teacher Award in the Humanities, from the College of Arts and Sciences of Illinois State University (1996); the Maude Hammond Fellowship of the University of Nebraska (1992); and the "Excellent Teacher" award from the University of Illinois (1986 and 1987). Further, he has contributed to such publications as the Journal of Applied Linguistics, the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Studies in the Linguistic Sciences and to a 1993 book entitled, The Atlantic Meets the Pacific: A Global View of Pidginization and Creolization. He has also contributed a study on language maintenance to Endangered Languages, to be published this year by Cambridge University Press. Mr. Kapanga holds a Ph.D in Applied Linguistics from the University of Illinois (1991), where he also received a Master of Arts degree in the same subject (1987). Prior to that, in 1981, he earned a degree in language pedagogy and teaching English as a foreign language from the Université Nationale du Zaïre. Born on 1 July 1957, Mr. Kapanga is married and has four children.

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