Dr. Akil Kokayi Khalfani is Director of the Africana Institute, Acting Director of the Urban Issues Institute, and Associate Professor of Sociology at Essex County College. He is President and Founder of ATIRA Corp, a Think Tank that develops solutions for the problems that people of African descent face globally. He is a motivational speaker and author who excites audiences all around. He serves on the Executive Council for the Pan-Afrakan Kash Kmt Mdw Ntchr Outreach Society.

Dr. Khalfani is the author of the bestselling, The Hidden Debate: The Truth Revealed about the Battle over Affirmative Action in South Africa and the United States (Routledge 2006), which was nominated for two national awards: the Oliver Cromwell Cox Award and the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Book Award. He is the co-author of a new book Introduction to Sociology: Understanding Our Social World. He has written articles and book chapters on Pan Africanism, racial classification in South Africa, and population statistics. He has recently embarked on a three book series called "Africana Sociology".

Dr. Khalfani has a Ph.D. and a Masters degree in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania, from which he also earned a Certificate in African Studies. Additionally, in South Africa he studied Zulu, Afrikaans and southern African history and culture at the University of Pretoria.

His areas of expertise are Africana Studies, race relations, social stratification, and comparative history.