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University of Texas Austin Professor Earns Global Scholar Award

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University of Texas Austin Professor Earns Global Scholar Award

INDIANAPOLIS - A University of Texas Austin history professor is the recipient of an inaugural award acknowledging global scholarship.

Charles R. Bantz, chancellor of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) presented the Africana Studies Distinguished Global Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award to Toyin Falola, Ph.D., during the awards dinner of the 1st Public Scholars in Africana Studies International Conference on Globalization held recently at IUPUI.

The Global Scholar award recognizes an individual who can more accurately be described as the "quintessential scholar’s scholar," and someone whose scholarship has had a significant impact on the global academy.

The award also recognizes a scholar whose work has provided an important platform for an ongoing critical discourse regarding the continuing relevancy of understanding and respecting African people, cultures, and ideologies, both in the past and contemporary time periods.

Falola is considered by many to be the leading African historian of his generation in the world today," according to IUPUI Professor Bessie House-Soremekun.

Falola, one of the most respected and influential scholars of the 20th and 21st centuries, has been described as "the most prolific, productive, and accomplished historian of Africa not only of our era, but of all eras. A genre-bender of extraordinary talent, his contributions are wide-ranging and have covered all aspects that Africana Studies, from history to literature, economics to political economy, religion to culture, and even the creative zones of poetry and the memoir."

"We are delighted that a scholar with such impeccable credentials is the inaugural recipient of this award," said House-Soremekun, Ph.D. "It is particularly fitting that Dr. Falola receives this award at this time because this is the year that he has achieved his goal of publishing more than 100 books."

The professor serves on the editorial boards of more than 20 journals. He is the editor of African Economic History, published by the University of Wisconsin in Madison; series editor for the University of Rochester Press Studies in Africa and the Diaspora; the senior editor for the Greenwood Press Series on Culture and Customs of Africa; and the series editor of Classic Authors and Texts on Africa for the Africa World Press.

Falola received his bachelor’s and his doctorate degrees with honors from the University of Ife (now Bateman Wallow University) in Nigeria.

During the Conference on Globalization, Falola presented the keynote speech at the luncheon on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.  His topic was "Africana in the Margins: The Past and Future of Globalization."

Falola, the only scholar nominated for the award by three different individuals, received a unanimous vote from the members of the subcommittee that evaluated the dossiers and portfolios of award nominees.

About 575 people attended the three-day Public Scholars in Africana Studies conference at IUPUI. The theme of the conference was "Rethinking Economic Development in the Context of Globalization: Entrepreneurship, the Knowledge Economy, and Sustainable Development.

His Royal Majesty, Oba (King) Michael Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo, Okukenu IV, Alake and Paramount Ruler of Egbaland, Nigeria, was the keynote speaker for the awards dinner. Gbadebo discussed "The Changing Role of Nigeria in the 21st Century Knowledge Economy."

The International Conference on Globalization, sponsored in part by the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, featured outstanding scholars from universities and colleges representing Africa, Europe, North America, and South America.

Published on: November 18, 2009