Chime O. Asonye is currently pursuing his juris doctorate degree at Northwestern Law School in Chicago. Before his graduate studies, he worked as an Associate for the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria on the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (OSSAP-MDGs). For his work at OSSAP-MDGs, in 2012 he was nominated for the Excellence in Public Service – Government award by The Future Awards, which Forbes has described as “Nigeria’s most important awards for outstanding young Nigerians.” Formerly, he worked as a Program Assistant for the Uganda, Zimbabwe, and South Africa portfolio in the Africa Division of the International Republican Institute (IRI), a US government funded democratic assistance organization. In the past, Asonye has worked or interned with the United States Agency for International Development, Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the United Nations, Illinois Human Rights Commission, and the United States House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health. Having a strong academic debate background, Asonye presently serves on the Youth Professional Leadership Board of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues; board member and Head of Programs at Debate and Development Resource Center Nigeria; and was named an All-American Debater by the Cross Examination Debate Association when he competed collegiately. As a consistent advocate for Africans, he serves as a Commissioner on the Washington, D.C. Commission on African Affairs; Executive Director of NaijaDC, a private network of leading Nigerian’s connected to America’s capitol; and President of the Nigerian American Professionals Association in Chicago. Asonye graduated as a Chancellor’s Scholar with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2014, the Univesity of Illinois Black Alumni Network and African American Cultural Center awarded him the Global Footprint Award.