ADACI

Eurica Huggins Axum •  Executive Director – Currently an Assistant Director with the Professional Exchanges Division at the Institute of International Education, where she designs and implements projects for leaders from around the world who visit the U.S. under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs. In the Africa Region at Partners for International Education and Training (PIET), Ms. Huggins’ role as a Program Officer was to manage technical training programs for USAID-funded professionals from several African countries.

She also has experience in cultural and community activism and is presently the Public Relations Director and Member of the Board for the internationally renowned KanKouran West African Dance Company, based in Washington, D.C. In 1995, Ms. Huggins represented ADACI and was the only invited U.S. delegate at an international conference for the Zumbi Commemoration in Brazil, sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ms. Huggins has an extensive travel background that includes Senegal, the Gambia, Egypt, Morocco, the Caribbean and throughout the U.S.

Ms. Huggins has an undergraduate degree in International Marketing from the City University of New York, and a Masters in International Management from the University of Maryland, University College. A native of Trinidad, she is the proud mother of a son, and is married to Mchezaji Axum, owner of Earthfoods, an organic farm.

Mwangaza Michael-Bandele, Ph.D • Founding Member Emeritus – Earned her BA in African American Studies and Secondary Education and the MA in African History from Howard University. Ms. Michael-Bandele has developed courses in African Studies for public and private school systems and published several works on the impact of culture on academic achievement. She is an Associate Director at the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. Michael-Bandele is currently involved with a national research project concerned with the development of culturally responsive teacher education curricula materials and has produced video learning materials and teleconferences on the impact of culture on teaching and learning. She is a founding member of KanKouran West African Dance Company. A mother of two, Ms. Michael-Bandele has traveled to Ghana on several occasions, as well as Cote d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Kenya, and conducted field work in Zimbabwe. She completed a Doctor of Philosophy in African Diaspora History at Morgan State University.

Paula Wright Coleman • Director of Legal Affairs – A native of Atlanta, Georgia, she graduated from Howard University in 1970 and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1978; later she pursued graduate law studies at the Georgetown University Law Center, receiving a masters degree in Public Interest Law in 1979. Ms. Coleman is a retired Attorney with the U.S. Department of Labor. She was a member of the KanKouran West African Dance Company, and also served on the company’s Board. In June 1996, her interest in dance led her to Cuba where for two weeks she studied music and dance with Cutumba Folklorico Dance Company in Santiago de Cuba. She is a docent with the Smithsonian Institution Museum of African Art, and an associate editor for Garvey’s Voice newspaper. A participant in the Crossroads Africa program to Sierra Leone in 1982, Ms. Coleman is the Mother of two daughters, Salaam and Dahomey, and grandMother to grandson, Asa.  She has traveled to Brazil, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Egypt, Cuba, the Caribbean, Canada, and American Samoa.