Ezekiel Kalipeni (1954-2020)

Dr. Kalipeni joined the Department of Geography & Geographic Information Science of the University of Illinois in 1994 as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to full Professor in 2008. He served as Interim Director of the Center for African Studies in 2001-2002 and as a Director of the National Science Foundation’s Geography and Spatial Sciences Program from 2009-2011. Dr. Kalipeni gained an international reputation for his mapping and spatial analysis of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. In 2014, he was awarded the Kwado-Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished Scholar in African Geography Award from the AAG African Specialty Group. For many years he single-handedly edited the African Geographical Review. Over the years, Dr. Kalipeni maintained strong research and mentoring relations with the University of Malawi where he began his teaching career in 1986-88. Upon retirement, he donated his personal library of nearly 2,000 volumes to the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences at Chancellor College, University of Malawi.