American Office of Refugee Resettlement Grant
Omar Eno and Dan Van Lehman have been awarded a one million dollar grant for three years to research their Somali-Bantu Cultural Orientation Project.

Fundaçao Portugal Grant
José Cairus was awarded a 2003 Summer Research Grant from the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian to investigate the collection Lugares da África (ou Praças do Litoral marroquino, Marrocos e Argel (1596-1832), in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, Lisbon. Mariana Candido was awarded a similar grant, deferred to summer 2004, to complete her doctoral dissertation research on Benguela and its hinterland 1770-1850 in a number of archives in Portugal.

Ontario Graduate Scholarship
Thorald Burnham was awarded an OGS scholarship for the 2003-2004 academice year.

Language Training Fund
Ismael Montana was awarded an award from the The York Centre for International and Security Studies to attend French courses at Alliance Francaise de Toronto.

Faculty of Graduate Studies - Travel Fund 2002-2003
Jennifer Lofkranz was able to secure funds for conference travel during the Fall and Spring term.

CUPE 3903 Professional Devlopment Fund Spring Competition 2003
Jennifer and Bashir were each awarded a grant for travel to an International conference hosted by Arewa House in Kaduna, Nigeria.

Graduate Development Fund 2002-2003
Mark Campbell received travel support to the All-African Students' Conference held at University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Jamaica.

PhD Qualifying Examination: York University
Denise Challenger and Robert Stewart sat and passed their Comprehensive examinations in May 2003.

New Students - History Graduate Programme, York University
Khadija Cairus was recently admitted to the PhD History Programme. Her research will focus on Angola and Brazil during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

In September, Nadine Hunt will pursue an MA in History. Her research focus is comparative and will look at two distinct areas where Igbos inhabited. The first being Jamaica, where it is known that many Igbo arrived during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and secondly, in Costa Rica and neighboring parts of Central America, where one of the main African groups were "Caravali," i.e., Igbo.