[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16723-16724]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO DR. JANE EDWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOSE E. SERRANO

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, December 8, 2016

  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure and admiration 
that I stand before you today to honor Dr. Jane Edward for her years of 
compassionate advocacy and tireless work to advocate for the African 
Diaspora, especially in higher education.
  Dr. Jane Edward was born and raised in Southern Sudan. She was 
educated in Sudan, Egypt, and Canada. Her early years of schooling were 
completed in Sudan where she obtained a BA in Education from the 
University of Juba in Southern Sudan in 1986. She was the first to 
attend a college and the first to obtain a Doctoral Degree in her 
family. Dr. Edward left Sudan for Egypt in 1992 to pursue her graduate 
studies at the American University in Cairo after receiving a Ford 
Foundation Scholarship. She completed her Masters Degree in Sociology/
Anthropology at the American in Cairo in 1996. Unable to return to 
Sudan due to the civil war, she emigrated from Egypt to Canada in 1997; 
where she joined the University of Toronto, and completed her Ph.D. in 
Sociology in Education in 2004. She moved from Canada to the United 
States of America in 2005.
  Dr. Jane Edward is married to Prof. Amir Idris of Fordham University, 
and they have two children: Amanawil and Bawila. She is currently a 
Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of African Immigration 
Research, in the Department of African and African American Studies, 
Fordham University, Rose Hill Campus in the Bronx. She published a book 
titled, Sudanese Women Refugees: Transformations and Future Imaginings, 
New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2007, and several book chapters, journal 
and opinion articles, as well as research reports.
  Her unwavering interest for learning and pursuit of higher education 
is inspired by her parents, who recognized the importance of education 
for all their children regardless of their gender. Additionally, her 
personal experiences growing up in South Sudan and observing the 
experiences of other women, gave Dr. Edward the motivation and 
encouragement to continue with her education, and to recognize the 
significance of women's education. These experiences of schooling, 
teaching and researching African and South Sudanese women's issues in 
the diaspora and in conflict and post conflict situations have further 
afforded Dr. Edward a realization that Africans in general and women in 
particular need to write about their experiences and history from their 
own perspectives.
  As an advocate for women's rights, she has been involved with the 
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Forum of the United Nations 
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), held in 
Cairo Egypt in 1994; and the NGOs forum on women in China's Huairou 
City, a parallel conference of NGOs to the Fourth World Conference on 
Women held in Beijing China in September 1995. In the summer of 2006, 
Dr. Edward launched the African Immigration Research as

[[Page 16724]]

part of the larger Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP), to 
highlight African immigrants' histories, experiences and contributions 
to the history of the Bronx County. The main objective of the study is 
to examine the situation of African immigrants in the Bronx with an aim 
of capturing their varied experiences.
  Mr. Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished 
colleagues join me in honoring Dr. Jane Edward for her consistently 
remarkable dedication to higher education and the African Diaspora.

                          ____________________