Some University students and faculty are not just learning about West Africa from a textbook, but are experiencing its culture.

Thomas A. Hale, University professor of African, French and comparative literature, said teaching about Africa goes beyond his classroom.

"I'm teaching to a much larger audience -- all the students on campus," he said. Part of sharing the culture to students is inviting West African oral tradition musicians -- griots --to the University.

Vice Provost James Stewart, who teaches with Hale, said Hale is "instrumental in students learning about West Africa by bringing in griots, organizing films and arranging for speakers."

"He's an ambassador to internationalize our mission," Stewart said.

Hale, an African literature scholar for two decades, had his first experience in West Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger from 1964 to 1966.

Most of Hale's five students in his graduate seminar class on French-speaking cultures are pleased with his capabilities in the subject.

"I find him very objective," said Margo Brault (graduate-French). "He's very professional, he sticks to the facts. I'm always trying to figure out if he's left wing or right wing."

Some of his colleagues said he nurtures student interest in West Africa both here and abroad.

"Dr. Hale has been instrumental in developing opportunities for Penn State students to travel to West Africa, to do research, to engage in teaching and to learn about the culture," said Deputy Vice President for International Programs W. LaMarr Kopp.

Comparative Literature Department head Caroline D. Eckhardt agreed.

"He has been a major catalyst for comparative study of African literature at Penn State. He's very involved with both students and faculty."

Hale also stresses the importance of teaching Penn State faculty about West Africa.

"None of them have ever studied Africa formally," Hale said. "They don't know much about Africa, yet they're making decisions on what African courses should be offered and what courses count for what requirements."

When an African visitor comes to the University on exchanges or linkages, Hale said they meet with the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts "in a way, to educate the dean."

Hale was also among 114 scholars nationwide recently awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers for 1991-92.

As a West African bards specialist, he will use some of these funds to conduct the first examinination of bards' social function and verbal art. The research will be compiled in a book titled "Griots: Their Social Functions and Verbal Art, from the Empires of West Africa to the Global Village."

In 1980-81 he was a Fulbright senior lecturer at the University of Niamey in Niger. His most recent book, "Scribe, Griot, and Novelist: Narrative Interpreters of the Songhay Empire," was published by the University of Florida Press last year.