Belinda Archibong speaking at a dinner event · Courtesy of Barnard College / Columbia University

Alumni Spotlight

Belinda Archibong asks questions that reach from the classroom to Congress.

The Greenhills alumna is an economist whose work explores opportunity, public health and economic history. She remembers oratory and forensics among the experiences that shaped her education.

Belinda Archibong

Greenhills ’06

Oratory

Belinda Archibong studies how history and public policy shape people’s opportunities. Her work has taken her into classrooms, research archives and a congressional hearing on vaccinations and economic recovery. Her Michigan connection begins at Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, where she competed in Oratory.

Learning to ask questions

Archibong moved from Lagos to Michigan with her family in 2001. Seeing how a move between countries could change a family’s circumstances prompted questions she would later pursue as an economist.

At Greenhills, she found teachers and activities that encouraged that curiosity. In a profile published by the school, she remembered oratory and forensics with coach Barb Ebeling among her favorite experiences. She reached the MIFA State Finals in Oratory in 2006.

“Anything that I’ve managed to do since I graduated has been the result of what I learned at Greenhills,” she told the school.

Belinda Archibong speaking from a lectern marked CEDI Conference Centre, Department of Economics, University of Ghana — At the CEDI Conference Centre, University of Ghana · Courtesy of the Department of Economics, University of Ghana

Research with a purpose

Archibong became an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies after teaching economics at Barnard College. Her research brings together development economics, political economy and economic history, with a particular focus on Africa.

She works with historical records and modern data to examine questions about public health, education and institutions. In 2021, she brought that expertise to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress as a witness at a hearing on vaccinations and the economic recovery.

Belinda Archibong, far right, with five academic colleagues in a wood-panelled room — With colleagues and university leadership at Columbia · Courtesy of Columbia University

Keeping the classroom in conversation

Discussion remains central to her teaching. At Barnard, she described organizing structured debates in her political economy classes and inviting speaking coaches to help students with delivery.

It is a lovely connection to her Michigan speech years: students preparing a case, listening to one another and learning how to make an idea clear. Archibong also supports Greenhills’ annual fund to help other students find opportunities there.

On record

Our results archive is still being built and has gaps, so this is simply what we hold today.

2006 MIFA State Finals, Class B/C/D Oratory: 3rd

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