Blandina Kaduma Giblin was the first instructor of Kiswahili at the University of Iowa.  She taught Kiswahili in the Department of Linguistics from 1991 to 2006, and since August 2006 has taught courses at all levels as Lecturer in Kiswahili in the Department of French and Italian.  She has been co-director of several Study Abroad programs in Tanzania.  She has served as an external examiner at several colleges and universities, including the University of Alabama and Grinnell College.  She has served as a court translator on several occasions, and produced the Kiswahili translations in Tanzania: Meisterwerke Afrikanischer Skulptur/  Sanaa za Mabingwa wa Kiafrika, edited by Jens Jahn (Munich: Verlag Fred Jahn, 1994).  She is the recipient of University and Community awards.  They include the African Studies Faculty/Scholar Award for 2013 from International Programs, University of Iowa, and a Certificate of Appreciation for “Tireless Efforts on Behalf of the African American Community of the Greater Iowa City Area”  from the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Iowa and Jurisdiction (February 2010).