Minnesota State College-Southeast Technical Chief Information Officer, Dr. Mohamed Elhindi returned from travel to Sudan where he was in charge of coordinating a United Nations Development program designed to help African nations build capacity and sustainability in health and education. This assignment took Elhindi to the University of Kordofan, a national institute located in El-Obeid, North Kordofan state in western Sudan.
The duration of the trip took Elhindi out of the country from December 13 – January 9 with a brief stopover in Amsterdam to interview and select candidates from other parts of the world to comprise the team. Once organized the team was responsible for developing and implementing the plan and then traveling to Sudan to present it. Upon arriving in Sudan the team mobilized quickly, arriving in the capitol city, Khartoum, for a brief reception and continued on with an eight hour journey by car to the university.
The project’s focus was to teach research methodology and application into teaching; Instruction in the use of technology to improve learning, with a larger goal of positioning the university to become more of a research institution that can contribute to the region. Dr. Elhindi was able to not only share his expertise as the Chief Information Officer, but was able to draw on the research skills he developed with his recent completion of a doctoral degree in Information Systems from Nova Southeastern University, with a concentration on Design & Implementation of Identity Management Systems. His prior experience included work in information systems for Medtronics, Mayo Health Systems and Winona State University.
This was not Elhindi’s first time lending his time and talents to academia in the African Nation in 2007 he also served on a UN project that focused on building a library system at the university in Sudan.