[IowaStatePhiPsi]

Sudan People's Liberation Movement(SPLM) and Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) leader John Garang de Mabior got a doctorate in economics at Iowa State.
And he's coming here on Friday to speak about the peace talks with the Sudanese government.

Name: Dr. John Garang de Mabior. Title : Chairman, SPLM, and Commander-in-Chief, SPLA.

Born: 23 June 1945, in Buk Village of Wangkulei Payam, Bor County, New Sudan.

Tonj Elementary School: 1953-57.

Bussere Intermediate School: 1957-1961.

Rumbek Senior Secondary School, Sudan: 1961-62.

Magamba Senior Secondary School, Tanzania: 1964-65.

Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (USA): 1965-69, B.A., Economics.

Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Award, 1969.

University of Dar es Salaam Research Fellow, 1969 (under the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship).

After completing research at Dar es Salaam, opted to join the Anyanya guerrillas (1970) instead of going to the University of California, Berkeley, that had granted him a Booth Fellowship for graduate studies beginning Fall of 1970 – and fought for two years with the Anyanya guerrillas.

Absorbed into the Sudanese Army from the guerrilla army with the rank of Captain as a result of the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, and became a career soldier in the Sudanese Army (1972-83).

Diploma, Infantry Officers Advanced Course (IOAC-7-74), United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning Georgia, 1974-75.

Instructor, Sudan Military Academy, 1975-76.

Commander, Battalion 105, Bor, 1976-77 (this Battalion became the nucleus of the SPLA in 1983).

Study leave (1977-1981), while remaining in the Sudanese Army.

M.A. Agricultural Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa: 1979.

Ph.D., Economics, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa: 1981.

Promoted full Colonel, and appointed Deputy Director of Military Research, Army GHQ: 1982-83.

Lecturer, Faculty of Economics, University of Khartoum, 1982-83, while in active army service.

Founding member of SPLM/SPLA, May 1983.

Chairman and Commander-in-Chief, SPLM/SPLA: 1983 – to the present.