MEET THE NEWLY APPOINTED AAU VICE CHANCELLOR
By Onome Naomi
Asomwan Sonnie Adagbonyin is a Professor of English at the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria. He has taught at the university level for more than 35 years and has brought to bear, over the years, on his teaching, unique skills that have endeared him to his many students scattered all over the world. His research interest, apart from Stylistics, which is his area of specialisation, includes ESL, discourse analysis, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, syntax, semantics/semiotics, African literature and creative writing.
Professor Adagbonyin is severally published and authored his first book of stories, The Singing Ashes (Evans Brothers, Nigeria) when he was 18. In 1992, he edited the first major anthology of Nigerian short stories, Frontiers (Kraft Books Ltd.). In 1996, Niyi Osundare, the first major and, till date, one of the most serious linguistic studies of the poetry of the award-winning African poet, Niyi Osundare, was released. His works are available in some of the national libraries of the world, including Australia and Great Britain.
A freelance journalist, broadcaster, speech writer, columnist, commentator on public affairs, playwright, short story writer and poet, Professor Adagbonyin is listed in Who Is Who in Nigeria, a publication of the Nigerian International Biographical Centre, 2003. He is a gifted public speaker and orator, and a recipient of several honours.
He has been on the editorial advisory board of many academic and literary journals at home and abroad. He was Vice-Chairman of the Edo-Delta States Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), the umbrella body for Nigerian writers founded by Chinua Achebe, the world-acclaimed novelist, between 1992 and 1993, and the General Secretary of the Edo-Delta States Chapter of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), a foremost human rights movement in Nigeria, from 1993 to 1994.
Professor Adagbonyin had his educational career at the Universities of Benin and Nigeria, where he obtained the B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees, all in English. He is a member of the Nigeria Academy of Letters (NAL), Modern Languages Association of Nigeria (MLAN), the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN), the Poetics and Linguistics Association (PALA) (UK), Association of Contemporary African Linguistics (ACAL) and the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), among other professional bodies. He is serving a second term as the Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Nigeria, where he is a permanent member of Senate and a Senate Representative in the Governing Council of the University.
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