NEFER ROHU Africana Graduate and Professional Students Organization

Nefer Rohu is the Africana Graduate and Professional Students Organization of the University at Albany. The organization was created to develop a greater realization of African heritage, enhance multicultural scholarship, develop a deeper sense of cultural awareness, and to establish an appropriate liaison between Graduate students and the broader community.

Nefer Rohu's specific purpose, objective and stated goals are as follows:

To facilitate the dissemination of knowledge pertaining to the values and principles of academic enlightenment; and to implement methodologies and strategies for change and healing, in accordance with an African-centered approach, in order to proliferate an awareness of Africa and the African Diaspora.

To create a diverse environment and foster an understanding about Africa and its global relations while heightening awareness of problems and issues relating to people of Africa and the Diaspora.

To ensure that the Africana Studies Department of the University at Albany, SUNY receives the status and resources that would establish it as a superior department in the academic, local, national, and global communities.

To mentor undergraduate students at the University at Albany.

To assist students of the University at Albany in acquiring a more comprehensive understanding of problems and issues relating to peoples of Africa and the Diaspora, and to act to redress them.

Membership
Membership in Nefer Rohu is open to all Graduate students attending the State University of New York at Albany. This includes any currently enrolled Graduate students in the Africana Studies Department and other disciplines within the University who have paid their Graduate Student Organization (GSO) activity fee. Membership is also extended to currently enrolled Graduate students who have had their activity fee waived by the GSO.

Historical Significance of the Organization's Name
Nefer-rohu was a prophet and priest of Bastet (the cat goddess) in Kemet (Ancient Egypt) who predicted the downfall of the Old Kingdom and the reunification of Kemet by Amenemhet I, founder of the Twelfth Dynasty and the Middle Kingdom.