Egodi Uchendu
Egodi Ngozichukwukankemmadu Nwagboliwe Uchendu is a professor of social history and gender studies at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka.[1][2][3] She was born in the East Central State (now South East Nigeria, or Igboland, from Obinofia-Ndi-Uno in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria) to Dr. Moses Ukasonwa Ozo, a former chief health consultant, and Constance Chibugo (née Igboanugo). She has two daughters and a son with Chukwuka Nwocha Uchendu of Umuahia in Abia State of Nigeria, a professor of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology,[4] contracted in 1992.[5] There are three other adopted sons and two granddaughters.[citation needed]
Early life and education
Uchendu had elementary education at Ekulu and New Haven Primary Schools, Enugu in southeast Nigeria and attended Queen's Secondary School, also in Enugu. On successfully completing high school education and passing the competitive Nigeria's Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board's University Matriculation Examination in 1985, she proceeded to University of Nigeria from where she obtained Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History in 1989. She received a Master of Arts in political history in 1993[6] with a Federal Government of Nigeria Scholarship, and Ph.D. in social history in 2002.[7] Ph.D. is generally described as a terminal degree, but Uchendu did not end her education at that. She went to Ethiopia and Germany in 2008 and acquired certificates in higher education management.[8] Thereafter, she returned to Nigeria and did additional certificate courses in quality and good governance in higher education (2009) and Management of Higher Education Institutions (Israel, 2019).[9]
At present, a faculty member in the Department of History and International Studies at the University of Nigeria, which she joined in February 1999 after one-half of a decade of high school teaching. Uchendu teaches over eighteen undergraduate and postgraduate courses. These span histories of West African economy and indigenous, Christian and Islamic religions; East, Central and North Africa; the continent of Africa; African women; the Commonwealth; the United States; Latin America; southeast Asia; blacks in diaspora; world revolutions; and science and technology. She also teaches historiography and history research.
Uchendu combines this diverse teaching responsibility with a heavy load of administrative and other tasks in her workplace. These administrative and other tasks include:
- Director, Centre for Policy Studies and Research, 2019;
- Coordinator, African Humanities Research and Development Circle, 2015;
- Chair, Faculty Research Committee, 2014–2016
- Head, Department of History and International Studies, 2012–2013;
- Faculty Content Developer, 2011–2012;
- Member, Faculty Committee on Conferences, Seminars and Workshops, 2010–2011;
- Member, Faculty Committee on Journals and Faculty Editorial Board, 2010–2011;
- Chair, Organizing Committee for Faculty of Arts International Conference on Leadership Values in Africa, 2009;
- Chair, Faculty of Arts Research Project, 2008–2010;
- Coordinator, Departmental Post-Graduate Seminar, 2009; 2011–2012;
- Chair, Departmental Welfare Committee, 2002–2006;
- Secretary, Faculty of Arts Welfare Committee, 2000–2006;
- Member, Departmental Curriculum Review Committee, 2002–2004;
- Member, Faculty Productions Committee, 2002–2004.
Uchendu belongs to many scholarly associations. She is a fellow and life-member of the Historical Society of Nigeria, a life-member of African Studies Research Forum, a life-member of Global South Studies Association (formerly called Association of Third World Studies), a life-member of Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Alumni, a life-member of Fulbright Alumni Association of Nigeria, and a member of Nigerian Academy of Letters. She is also an African Collaborative Member of five research bodies, namely: Centre of African Studies in University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; Gesellschaft zur Foerderung des ZMO e.V., Germany; African Studies Association (2002–2009); American Studies Association (2000–2007); and Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (2001–2004).
Scholarly works
Uchendu's contributions to the body of knowledge include two of her research-based books internationally renowned to historians and other persons enthusiastic about discussions on conflict, gender, Islam and Christianity. The two books are 307-page Women and Conflict in the Nigerian Civil War (published in New Jersey in 2007 by Africa World Press) and 284-page Dawn for Islam in Eastern Nigeria: A History of the Arrival of Islam in Igboland (published in Berlin in 2011 by Klaus Schwartz. Her other works include six books, twenty journal articles, eighteen book chapters and some manuscripts in press.
She has attended academic conferences in different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America and Australia/Oceania, sharing new insights in historical subjects, and has been a peer reviewer of journal articles and books. Her research areas are Nigerian history, women, conflict, African masculinities, Islam, religious conversions, and historiography. Currently researching on "Patterns of Islamic Dawah in Eastern Nigeria," she plans to also investigate and tell untold stories of medical practice in Nigeria since independence, African female historians and African historiography since 1950.
Her conscientiousness, impressive project management and financial skills and ability to deliver results timely endeared her to research, publication and conference events funders. Among these funders are United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in conjunction with York University (in 2000), Nigeria's Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund), in 2013, 2014, 2016 and 2019) and National Universities Commission (NUC,) in 2010). Some others are Fulbright Institute of International Education (IIE, in 2002), Cornell Center of African Studies (in 2003), Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis (in 2005), Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESSRIA, 2005, 2006, 2009), A. G. Leventis Foundation (2013–2014) and Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Foundation (2006–2009, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2019). Uchendu has also associated with Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) Berlin as an associate researcher; with University of London's Centre of African Studies as post-doctoral research fellow; and with the Women Studies Programme of University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA, and, Centre for African Studies, University of Cambridge, as a visiting researcher.
Awards
Awards have trailed Uchendu's high-quality research and publication outputs right from her doctoral thesis which earned her University of Nigeria's awards in 2000, 2001 and 2002. In 2017, the University of Texas at Austin, USA, honoured her with Wangari Maathai Award for Innovative Scholarship and Leadership. Before this, she had utilized her Europe Research Award at the Methodist Archives, the University of London, in 2008.
Community service
Being a university teacher in a developing country where large-scale political corruption undermines sufficient funding of education and research, Uchendu, like every other civil servant, could be said to need adequate remuneration to cater to numerous private, family and occupational needs. This has not deterred her from financially encouraging academic excellence among female students and supporting students whose monetary difficulty can forestall their graduation or continuing their studies. She instituted a prize, in 2009, for the best graduating female student in University of Nigeria's Department of History and International Studies. Seven students had won this prize as of 2018. She has given grants to ten undergraduate and post-graduate students in the department. Some of the beneficiaries received grants for a session's fees, while the others received for four sessions (entire duration of programme). Some are now pursuing higher education in different countries. For providing such a high level of inspiration to young people, the Rotaract Club in University of Nigeria gave her its prestigious International Service Award.
Students are not the only beneficiaries of Uchendu's benevolence rooted in her passion for raising the next generation of academic and research leaders. Many early career researchers and experienced academics participated in the workshops, seminars and conferences she organised in the university since 2008, some of which were wholly funded by her; a few with support from her dean's office, and others funded by international organisations she relates closely with. These events were on developing critical competencies in research, in article and proposal writing, in publishing and in securing fellowships, which are areas of urgent need for capacity building.
References
- ↑ "Egodi Uchendu". Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ↑ "Biography". Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ↑ "Curriculum Vitae: Professor Dr Egodi Uchendu, FHSN" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ↑ "Agbo, C. C. (2017, v). Historicizing Child Wage Exploitation in Nigeria. MA dissertation. The University of Texas at Austin" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-28.
- ↑ "Abu, A. H. & Uchendu, C. N. (2011, p. 217). Antifertility activity of aqueous ethanolic extract of Hymenocardia acida stem bark in female rats. Iranian Journal of Reproductive Medicine, 9(3), 217–222" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-28.
- ↑ "Curriculum Vitae: Professor Dr Egodi Uchendu, FHSN" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ↑ "Curriculum Vitae: Professor Dr Egodi Uchendu, FHSN" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ↑ "Curriculum Vitae: Professor Dr Egodi Uchendu, FHSN" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-26.
- ↑ "Curriculum Vitae: Professor Dr Egodi Uchendu, FHSN" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-06-26.
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