Mark Alleyne, Department of Communication

Thursday, May 21, 2009 – Office of the Dean

It is with great sadness that the College of Arts and Sciences conveys news of the death of Dr. Mark Alleyne, associate professor of communication.  Professor Alleyne was coordinating a study abroad program on behalf of the university in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and his death Wednesday evening was the result of unexpected complications from pneumonia, for which he had been hospitalized several days earlier.

Mark Alleyne was an accomplished scholar of international communication and his loss will be acutely felt by his colleagues and students at the university.  Born in the Caribbean - he worked for Caribbean media and was a freelance broadcaster for the BBC World Service in London prior to entering the professorate - Alleyne earned his undergraduate degree in communication at Howard University.  He was the first ever graduate of an American HBCU to be named a Rhodes Scholar, and subsequently earned Master’s (1988) and Doctor of Philosophy (1992) degrees at St. Antony’s College, Oxford University.  After appointments at the University of Illinois and UCLA, where Alleyne associate directed the Ralph Bunche Center for African American Studies, he joined the faculty at Georgia State University in 2005.

Professor Alleyne’s scholarship focused on the legacy of racism within the international system, and he sought in particular to better understand the anti-racism campaigns undertaken by the United Nations.  In coordinating this work, Alleyne joined with scholars from across Central and South America and organized multinational projects with others similarly committed to undoing the centuries-old social and political consequences of racial discrimination.  The study abroad experience he had organized for Georgia State University students traveling with him in Guatemala and his collaboration with university faculty affiliated with the college Center for Latin American and Latino Studies were among his many activities designed to instill in students a more subtle appreciation for the cultures and countries he loved.

The College extends its profound sympathies to Mark’s family. We will share information about funeral arrangements when they become available.