Dr. Jean Engohang-Ndong was born and raised in Gabon, a French-speaking country located in Central-Western Africa.
He currently lives in Jackson Township with his wife Charlotte Engohang. They have six children, four girls and two boys.
Since 2007, he has been a university professor teaching biological science courses. He is a tenured associate professor of biological sciences at Kent State University Tuscarawas, where he has been a faculty member starting in 2010.
He also operates his own company, Ekaza-Bridging The Gap. Engohang-Ndong was immersed in an educational environment from a young because his father was an elementary school teacher.
“Education was primordial for my father,” he said. “So naturally, I embraced it. Fast forward, after I graduated from high school, I started my higher education studies at the University of Sciences and Technologies of Masuku in Gabon where I obtained an associate degree in biology and chemistry. At the completion of my associate degree, I obtained a scholarship that allowed me to go abroad and more specifically to France where I continued my higher education in the field of biological sciences. There, I obtained my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology with an emphasis on cell biology and physiology.
“I finally completed my higher education with a Ph.D. in medical microbiology in late 2003 at the Pasteur Institute of Lille in France. Immediately after I obtained my Ph.D., I decided to come to the United States to continue my research adventure as a post-doctoral fellow in the field of tuberculosis.
“My major interest was in the identification of potential drug targets in mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for human tuberculosis. During my post-doctoral fellowship, I came to realize that even though I was enjoying research, I was, however, missing interacting with the academic environment.“
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Ekaza-Bridging The Gap is organized to foster access to higher education, persistence, and attainment of a meaningful postsecondary degree by providing educational support services to our most vulnerable student populations, including but not limited to minority, economically disadvantaged, first‑generation, and international students.
Through our one-on-one customized academic support services, our approach is to meet our students where they are and thus provide a platform conducive to both academic and personal success. Ekaza reaches its goals by providing tutoring services, academic advising, and academic coaching services.
Ekaza is engaged in stirring up a passion for innovation and creativity in our youth (grades 6th-12th) through its academic enrichment program in the area of STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, and Medicine). By doing so, Ekaza is preparing the next generation for meeting the unique challenges inherent to their space and time.
Our vision is to create a better future for our youths and for our local, national, and international communities.
Ekaza is located at 800 Market Ave. N, Suite 1610, in Canton.
I developed Ekaza-Bridging The Gap for a few reasons. First, I have been a college professor teaching undergraduate college students from varied backgrounds for the past 15 years.
Second, I am the father of six children among whom three have completed high school and are now pursuing post-secondary education at different levels. The oldest obtained a bachelor’s degree in public health at Kent State University. She is now enrolled in a master’s program in public health at New York University in Manhattan. My second child is a sophomore at Kent State University where she is a pre-medicine student and hopes to obtain a bachelor of sciences that would allow her to apply for medical schools. My third child is a pre-law freshmen in the Honors College at Eastern Michigan University where she is part of their forensic league for speech and debate.
Through my interactions with my children, I have learned that most students if not all do better when they have a mentor who shows care and concern. I have noticed that many students fail to pursue a college education, sometimes when they go to college, they fail to persist and/or fail to attain a meaningful college degree, or to make the proper career choices, not because they do not have the potential to reach their dreamed goals, but because they do not have the proper support needed to help them navigate the intricacies of higher education and/or the intricacies of life itself.
As an experienced college instructor, I do know for a fact that “One size does not fit all” when it comes to fostering academic success among our students. Therefore, meeting our students where they are is a goal I am pursuing.
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I have taught and am still teaching a wide range of undergraduate biology courses at Kent State University. Some of the biological science courses I teach include but are not limited to microbiology, biological foundations, biological diversity, human biology, human genetics, and human anatomy and physiology.
I am also a researcher. My research focuses on microbiology and health.
When I am not teaching, doing research in my laboratory, and running my organization, I enjoy walking/hiking, landscaping, doing woodwork projects around my house, discovering new places, and doing outdoor activities with my family and friends.
I have been involved in issues related to social justice, promoting access to education, academic success, professional and personal achievement.
Due to my involvement and expertise in educational matters, the president of the Stark County Chapter of NAACP, Hector McDaniel, recently invited me to join the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics (ACT-SO) Committee as a co-chair to help revive the ACT-SO program in Stark County and to prepare our youth for the national competition. ACT-SO has not been active in Stark County for over a decade.
My short-term goal is to develop an academic enrichment program in the STEAMM area at Ekaza-Bridging The Gap where students will learn critical thinking skills, use problem-based learning to solve real-life problems. Thus, we will prepare students in 6-12 grades for not only ACT-SO local and national competitions but also for other types of academic competitions in science, technology, mathematics and medicine.
I am also currently working in collaboration with Chester’s Mop, Men of Tomorrow, Mentor Stark, and TomTod Ideas with whom I have the chance to share my expertise in education.
Finally, I would like to say that I am a proud member of the Stark County Minority Business Association and a member of the Education Committee of the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Editor’s note: Five questions with … is a Sunday feature that showcases a member of the Stark County community. If you’d like to recommend someone to participate, send an email to [email protected].
