Dr. Godonoo is the Director of the Paul Robeson Center, located on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. The Center is an educational resource for Rutgers University. The goal of the professional staff is to meet the educational and social needs of students. The Center serves as a forum for inter-cultural and inter-personal communication and development for all students. The Center provides office space for registered student organizations and is home to the Black Voice/Carta Latina Newspaper. There is a computer lab with PCs for student use. The meeting room area is available for Rutgers University and community events. The Center holds extended hours during examination periods each semester.
Dr. Godonoo was born in Kano, Nigeria, and received his degree in Librarianship from the University of Ghana, Lego and has traveled and conducted research in West Africa. Dr. Godonoo attended the University of Alberta, Canada, where he received his B. Ed. and Master of Education before proceeding to obtain his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles in Comparative International Education.
He has taught at the college and secondary school levels in Canada, Ghana, and Nigeria for twenty years. Dr. Godonoo has had extensive experience in African outreach activities in UCLA, University of Illinois and Rutgers and has conducted many workshops on teaching about Africa. He has also developed curriculum units about the continent for American educators. In addition to his role as the director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Dr. Godonoo teaches courses within the Department of Africana Studies at Rutgers, New Brunswick.
The Center was established in 1967 in response to the challenge of providing a supportive atmosphere to increasing numbers of African-American students entering Rutgers University. In 1972, the Center was renamed in honor of Rutgers’ esteemed alumnus Paul Robeson. The Center has played a vital role in the Rutgers community by reflecting the rich cultural heritage of African Americans through programs that focus on the literary, cultural, and historic contributions of African-Americana to society. In 1992, the Center moved from College Avenue to it’s new home adjacent to the Busch Campus Center.