Thomas Adewumi Varsity Appoints New VC

The Board of Trustees of   Thomas Adewumi University (TAU) has appointed Professor Francisca Oladipo as the new Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer of the fast-growing institution.

According to the board, the appointment followed  a unanimous vote in favour of the excellent researcher and administrator.

Professor Oladipo, who  will step into this position from Federal University Lokoja (FUL), where she currently serves as the Director of Quality Assurance and the Head of Computer Science Department. She also coordinates the FUL-RWEYDF Centre for ICT for Development and Training, a partnership project between Federal University Lokoja and the Rural Women Empowerment and Youth Development Foundation.

Professor Oladipo has over two decades of academic and research leadership experiences and has previously served as the Director of Research, Innovations and International Relations at Kampala International University, Uganda and taught at Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Nigeria. She also coordinates the Africa and Asia Implementation Networks of the Virus Outbreak Data Network (VODAN) and serves as the International Projects Synergy and Support Lead for the Nuffic Regional and Ethiopia Projects under the Orange Knowledge Program of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She leads the team of African and European scientists and researchers responsible for the successful deployment of machine-actionable FAIR data points in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion into 88 Health Facilities in Uganda, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and The Netherlands. With her stellar academic and research leadership, Professor Oladipo is set to redefine the university’s mission to meet the 21st Century workforce requirement in a fast-evolving STEM ecosystem.

Professor Oladipo obtained a PhD in Computer Science in 2010 and was a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Department of Electronics and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA under the TOTAL-MIT Empowering the Teachers Initiative.  She is an alumnus  of the prestigious Machine Learning Summer School (MLSS), Universidad Autonoma De Madrid, and the Oxford University Institute of Continuing Education. She also attended the UNESCO-sponsored Data Science and Analytics School at the Institute of Analytics and Data Science, University of Essex, UK.

Francisca is an inaugural Fellow of the Pan-Africa Scientific Research Council, a Grace Hopper Faculty Scholar and a fellowship alumna of several International Programs including the Heidelberg Laureate Foundation Germany, United States Department of State Exchange Program (TechWomen), Internet Engineering Task Force, the Women of Color in Computing, Widening Natural Language Processing, Women in Machine Learning, Black in Artificial Intelligence, German Scholars Organization, etc. She is a two-time recipient of the PyCon USA Grant, a recipient of the ACM FAT Fellowship in 2019 and 2020, and the 2019 Diversity and Inclusion Fellowship of the ICML among others. In addition, she is a Fellow of the Africa Scientific Institute and the Nigeria Computer Society and several other local and international professional and scientific associations.

In addition to developing innovative curriculum for multidisciplinary research, she  is bridging the gaps between research and practice in the areas of Theoretical Computer Science, and she has published numerous papers detailing her research experiences in both local and international journals and presented research papers in several international conferences. She is also a reviewer and editorial board member of many international scientific publications. Outside of daily work, she designs programs to increase the participation of females in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

A highly elated Chancellor of the university, Engr. Dr. JBO Adewumi disclosed that Oladipo supports the students-centred dream of the university and is the ideal candidate to take the institution to the next phase of her development.

“She is a natural! She identifies with our vision and is ready to implement our mission! The founding fathers of the university are excited by this appointment and cannot wait to see the global impact of having Francisca at the helm of affairs.”

“I warmly welcome this opportunity to co-create with all the critical stakeholders to realize the vision of the founders of Thomas Adewumi University through the delivery of accessible, student-centred education in Science, Technology and Medicine.’ Francisca said after the announcement of her appointment.

“I am grateful to the Board of Trustees and the Governing Council of the university for finding me worthy of this appointment and I am committed to providing a stellar academic leadership and promoting excellence in teaching and research.” According to the Fellow of the Pan-African Scientific Research Council, “the goal is to position Thomas Adewumi University as a world-class academic hub that supports staff and students in conducting cutting-edge teaching and learning as well as research that solves the problems of our society.”

The new VC went further to acknowledge the contributions of her predecessor, Professor Kolade Luke Ayorinde, whom she described as a superb administrator who laid an excellent foundation for the institution to realise the mandate of her Founder.

Located in Oko Irese, Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State, Thomas Adewumi University was approved by the Federal Executive Council on 8th April 2021. At the core of the mandate of the institution is the provision of a world-class academic environment that supports staff and students in conducting cutting-edge teaching and research in the areas of Science, Technology and Medicine. The university desires that every student at the institution, irrespective of the course of study, is able provide technical leadership aided by computing knowledge to solve significant problems across a broad range of application areas to the benefit  of humanity.