Brett Simmons
Junior
Majors: Theology and Economics
Minors: History and Gender and Diversity Studies
Brueggeman Fellow for the 2007-08 School year.
Research: I intend to travel to Tanzania in order to study the use of microcredit in Africa. Microcredit has received much press in the past year as a means to lift countless people out of poverty, culminating in Dr. Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank receiving the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for their work in Bangladesh. Although such efforts have worked well in Bangladesh and in other parts of Asia and the world, I plan to assess what the effect has been in Africa and whether a different culture and societal institutions may inhibit the successfulness of microcredit outside of Asia.