Leonardo A. Villalón

Leonardo A. Villalón is Professor of Political Science and African Studies and founder and coordinator of the Sahel Research Group at the University of Florida. He has held several administrative posts at the university, including Dean of the International Center and Associate Provost (2014-2022) and Director of the Center for African Studies (2002-2011). Villalón holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, and degrees from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University, and Louisiana State University. He is a specialist on the countries of the African Sahel (Senegal, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Chad), in particular the role of religion on democratization, electoral issues, education, state-building, and political stability. His current research involves the impact of climate change in the region. His research has been supported by Fulbright and Carnegie Scholars awards, and by grants from the US Department of State, the UK Department for International Development (DfID), the US DOD Minerva Initiative, and the Sahel and West Africa Club of the OECD. He has published numerous works on the Sahel, and is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of the African Sahel (Oxford University Press 2021). Villalón taught for two years as a Fulbright senior scholar at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal. He has also taught at the Université Gaston Berger in St. Louis, Senegal, and has lectured and directed seminars and workshops at universities and other institutions in numerous West African countries. He is past president of the West African Research Association, and currently chair of the board of directors of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC).