Mehretab Abye Assefa, assistant professor of sociology, believes relationships developed with students have been the most rewarding aspect of his job. Assefa came to St. Lawrence as a Jeffrey Campbell Fellow in 2000 and when asked to describe the highlight of his time at St. Lawrence says, “Because I am entrusted with the most precious thing in life, students’ minds, it is crucial for me to consider each student as a young scholar. Nothing is more satisfying than a student’s genuinely heart-felt appreciation for my teaching.” In summer 2006, Assefa took several St. Lawrence students to Ethiopia for a three-week course entitled A Post-Colonial Community: The Rastafarians in Ethiopia. “The course involved a cross-cultural and socio-historical analysis of a global community and an introduction to critical dimensions of a community’s resistance and perseverance,” he says. A historical sociologist, Assefa is interested in large-scale/long-term social relations and processes--“an intellectual vocation demanding strong theoretical as well as historical foundations,” he says. A native of Ethiopia, Assefa has also done research on the Horn of Africa. He received his doctorate from SUNY Binghamton.