Ibrahim Sundiata, the Samuel and Augusta Spector Professor of History, is retiring after over a decade at Brandeis. His retirement was celebrated in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall on Friday, which he called "a wonderful event." Students, faculty and alumni were in attendance.

According to an April 24 BrandeisNOW article, Sundiata's teaching career has spanned decades and continents. He has taught history at the University of Bahia in Brazil, Rutgers University, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

He moved to Brandeis as the chair of the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, then became the chair of the history department at Howard University and a fellow at the W.E.B. du Bois Institute at Harvard University before returning to Brandeis in 2002.

Sundiata received the Lerman-Neubauer Award for Teaching and Mentoring in 2005 and has written five books about topics which include slavery, U.S.-Africa relations and Equatorial Guinea.

"I've been other places and Brandeis has been a great experience for me," Sundiata told BrandeisNOW.

There is a certain openness. I never felt pressure to conform to anything, or have a certain political view," he added.

Sundiata values his students' work as well. "One of my greatest joys is I've had some very serious students who took on interesting projects and now are working for big NGOs in Latin America and Africa," he said.