Pius Adesanmi, has been named the recipient of the Canada Bureau of International Education (CBIE) Leadership Award for 2017.
Mr. Pius Adesanmi, a professor of English language and Literature at Carleton University, Canada, heads the university’s Institute of African Studies. He holds a doctoral degree from the University of British Columbia.
The letter dated September 8 was signed by the President and Chief Executive of CIBE, Karen McBride and read as follows:
“It is our great pleasure to inform you that you have been selected to receive the CBIE Board of Director’s Leadership Award.
Our deepest congratulations to you on this highly merited honour.”
The award won by Mr. Adesanmi, also a Premium Times Columnist according to the CBIE, is for an individual whose contributions to and support for international education is recognised and highly valued.
The organisation says: “This outstanding individual personifies CBIE’s central value proposition: Expertise. Knowledge. Opportunity. Leadership”. This Award bestows Honorary Membership.
“This Award is typically made by the Board of Directors. Nominations are not accepted for this Award. However, the Board is interested in hearing from members who wish to suggest a possible recipient.”
The Board listed some criteria for the selection to include:
– Highly influential;
– Has played a significant role in raising the profile of international education;
– Contribution to international education is substantial, and has made an impact on Canada and/or other parts of the world;
– Not necessarily from a CBIE member institution;
– Not necessarily Canadian.”
For nearly a decade, Mr. Adesanmi has worked in African countries to groom the next generation of researchers in the humanities and the social sciences by training PhDs, postdocs, and early-career lecturers in interdisciplinary conversations and methodology. He has served for five years as faculty and consultant to the University of Ghana’s Pan-African Doctoral Academy, an annual summer school for doctoral students from the West and East African subregions.
During his sabbatical in Ghana in 2013-2014, he designed a brand new PhD programme in African Thought for the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. He is also the Associate Director of the Abiola Irele School of Theory and Criticism, an annual summer training school for Nigerian lecturers at the Kwara State University. In South Africa, he works with the University of Johannesburg and Wits University to train and mentor doctoral and postdoctoral students in interdisciplinary research methods.
In 2010, Mr. Pius Adesanmi won the inaugural Penguin Prize for African Writing with his book, You’re Not a Country, Africa. The Penguin Prize was initiated by Penguin Books in conjunction with Chinua Achebe. Mr. Adesanmi is the Director of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies, the only such Institute in any Canadian University.
Mr. Adesanmi, with other honourees, were presented with the award at the CBIE’s 51st Annual Conference at the World Trade Conference and Convention Centre, Halifax, Canada.
Established in 1966, CIBE is not-for-profit organisation promoting “the special interests of the international learner, both the foreign national studying in Canada and the Canadian studying abroad, through educational exchanges, scholarships, training awards and internships, technical assistance in education and other related services.”
Its patron is David Johnson, the Governor-General of Canada.