Tel: 215.898.4299
Email: mbeje@sas.upenn.edu

Dr. Audrey Nonhlanhla Mbeje is from Durban, in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. She is Director of the African Language Program at the African Studies Center where she supervises African language instruction. In addition to overseeing the African Language Program at Penn, Dr. Mbeje teaches courses in Zulu, her native language, and another course called African Language and Culture. She also serves as an academic advisor at Penn.

Dr. Mbeje has a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Ball State University and has taught Zulu at various institutions in the U.S. including University of California-Berkeley, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Yale. Her specialization is in Second Language Acquisition and she enjoys teaching Zulu and the culture of the Zulu people to Penn students, an opportunity to test some of the theories of second language acquisition on some of the smartest kids on the planet. Dr. Mbeje is currently Director of a federally-funded Fulbright-Hays Zulu Group Project Abroad in South Africa for students of Zulu across U.S. institutions to learn advanced Zulu in KwaZulu-Natal. Dr. Mbeje received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to run the project for the summers of 2005, 2006, and 2007.

Dr. Mbeje joined Du Bois College House in August 2006 as a Faculty Fellow and already enjoys being a member of the Du Bois family and Penn’s College Houses and Academic Services (CHAS) community. As a Faculty Fellow at Du Bois, Dr. Mbeje will help provide a connection between students’ academic experience and college house experience. She works collaboratively with Du Bois staff to make student life at Du Bois an intellectual, social, and recreational experience. She loves sharing South African culture through singing and story-telling. She plans to organize regular evening house events which will involve activities such as story-telling and music from around the globe to calm students from their demanding academic schedules.