Economics Professor Richard Mshomba Named
Distinguished Lasallian Educator

President Brother Michael J. McGinniss, F.S.C., Ph.D., presents Richard Mshomba, Ph.D., with the Distinguished Lasallian Educator Award.

La Salle University economics professor Richard Mshomba has been named the 2009 recipient of the University’s Distinguished Lasallian Educator Award, which honors outstanding members of the La Salle community who exhibit in their daily lives a commitment to Lasallian priorities and traditions.

When he learned that he was this year’s recipient, Mshomba was humbled. “You have already given me so much,” he said. “La Salle along with the Christian Brothers have given me an education, a job—what more can you give me?”

Mshomba came to the United States when he was 27 to attend La Salle, where he received a full scholarship from the University. He graduated maxima cum laude in just three years with a double major in economics and philosophy. He went on to earn a Master’s degree from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For Mshomba, who was born and raised in the village of Sinon in Arusha, Tanzania, the thought of one day being a university professor was beyond his wildest dreams. In the 1960’s in Tanzania, only five percent of students who finished elementary school were chosen to continue their education at a secondary school. “In my last two years of elementary school, I walked three and a half miles to Mass everyday and prayed that I would be one of those selected to continue my education.” His prayers were answered.

Mshomba acknowledges that he is known as a tough professor in the classroom. “My professors challenged and supported me when I was an undergraduate. I want to do the same,” he said. “I have an understanding of the value of an education that others may not have. Higher education options are so limited world-wide—I want my students to realize how fortunate they are, and not to take their education for granted.”

When presenting the award to Mshomba, University President Brother Michael McGinniss, F.S.C., said, “During his time at La Salle, he has established himself as an outstanding teacher and an accomplished scholar, one with genuine concern for students and for the larger world in which they will live. His amazing life journey has taken many unpredictable turns, arriving, finally as a member of a university faculty.”

“His journey with all its unpredictability reminds us of a basic Lasallian tenet, implicit in the life and work of John Baptist de La Salle (founder of the Christian Brothers); that is, man is not bound by birth or class to some immutable destiny. Rather the yearnings of humanity can be heard and transformed by an education in which the extended role of teacher finds its proper standing,” continued McGinniss.

Just as he completed his Ph.D. in 1991, Mshomba returned to La Salle University when a faculty position in the economics department opened up. In his nearly 20 years at La Salle, Mshomba has taught and conducted extensive research in the areas of international and developmental economics with an emphasis on Africa. In 2000, he published Africa in the Global Economy (Lynne Rienner Publishers), which was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Book. He followed up on the success of his first book with Africa and the World Trade Organization (Cambridge University Press), published earlier this year. He dedicated his latest book to the De La Salle Christian Brothers, for “their dedication to education throughout the world.”