EAOP Alumni Profiles
EAOP targets low-income students attending some of the state's most challenged schools and puts them on track to a college education. EAOP empowers students to envision themselves succeeding in college and guides families with no history of college-going in navigating college options and the complex application process.
EAOP graduates attend all the UC campuses, including UCLA and UC Berkeley. Two of the top private school destinations are USC and Stanford.
EAOP alumni succeed in fields including engineering, politics, law, science, education, medicine, architecture, and business.
To read more about a student's EAOP experience, select a photo below.
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| Are you an EAOP alumnus interested in being profiled here? If so, please send an email message with your name and contact information to eaop@ucop.edu. | ||||||
Akil Koyaki Khalfani, Ph.D.
Graduating Class
University of Pennsylvania Class of 2004
MA and Ph.D. in Sociology; Certificate of African Studies
UC Santa Cruz, Class of 1989
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology
High School
Los Angeles High School (Los Angeles), Class of 1985
Current Position
Professor of Sociology & Director, Africana Institute
Essex County College
http://faculty.essex.edu/~khalfani/
President & Founder
ATIRA Corp
http://atiracorp.org/
Akil Khalfani credits EAOP and other academic preparation programs with helping him get to college at UC Santa Cruz. Since then, he has earned an MA, a PhD., and a certificate in African Studies; founded a research institute on African and African Diaspora populations; and written a book, The Hidden Debate, about liberty, equality and justice, using Affirmative Action in South Africa and the United States as case studies. A first-generation college student and the only person in his immediate and extended family with a graduate education, Akil's advice to high school students today is simple: "Understand that you can do anything you put your mind to. There are always obstacles in life. It is not their existence that is important and instructive. It is how we chose to overcome, move through and break down those barriers that is important."
Akil's barriers to a college education included dyslexia, financial challenges, and lack of adequate high school preparation. Akil's under-funded inner-city high school did not have enough textbooks for all students, so he was not allowed to take his English composition text home at night. "I received A's in English, but in the end my writing skills were poor. You can't properly do composition homework without books." UC helped Akil build his English skills through a summer writing program.
EAOP provided other support as well. One of Akil's "lasting memories" of EAOP included a field trip to UCLA. "I didn't have college students to interact within my community." Being on campus, talking to college students, hanging out in Westwood, made college a reality for him. After the tour, EOAP helped Akil with the college application process.
But concrete help with writing and exposure to a college environment were not the only ways in which EAOP helped Akil. He credits EAOP with empowering himself-and other students-to rethink and expand goals. "EAOP and other academic preparation programs can open doors, broaden horizons to the future. They empower students to see other ways of achieving goals, to take advantage of opportunities, to expand and rethink what their goals are."
These experiences in EAOP informed how Akil approached his position as program coordinator for UC' Irvine's Educational Opportunities Program. When working with schools, Akil didn't just present workshops, he became involved with the school administrators and parents. He focused on building a sense of community so that the academic preparation program could provide students with a new way of thinking about themselves. "EAOP empowers students to see other ways of achieving goals." As Akil explains, if a student wants to be involved in a sports career, EAOP helps them think beyond being an athlete to consider sports medicine or marketing.
Upon high school graduation, Akil opted to attend UC Santa Cruz as a computer engineering major, but switched to the study of sociology after taking courses in Race and Ethnic Relations and the Psychology of the Black Community. Today, Akil runs a research institute on African Diaspora populations, speaks throughout the country and worldwide on topics of liberty, equality, and justice, and is about to launch a cable television show called "Freedom Pulse," which will explore the various conceptualizations of freedom.
Driven to succeed, Akil credits academic preparation programs and specifically EAOP with providing him opportunities to achieve a higher education and professional accomplishments that might otherwise have been elusive. A participant in the programs available to him, including EAOP, MESA, and the Rotary Club, Akil encourages today's students to take advantage of all opportunities and to use academic preparation programs as a way to overcome a variety of obstacles, as he did.