The Governing Council of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Oyo State, has appointed renowned Professor of Art and Art History, Razaq Olatunde Rom Kalilu, as the new Acting Vice-Chancellor of the institution for six months.
Prof. Kalilu’s appointment as
Acting Vice-Chancellor, according
to a copy of press statement made
available to EDUCATION UPDATE by the institution in Ibadan, Friday takes effect from June 12, 2023.
Kalilu joined the services of
LAUTECH on September 1, 1992
and was pronounced a Professor
of Arts and Arts History in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts,
Faculty of Environmental Sciences, 24 years ago on October 1, 1999.
Trained at the prestigious University of Ife and the University of Ibadan, he is a polymath and specialist in Form and Material Technology, beyond being known as a specialist in Painting, Digital and Electronic Art.
Kalilu has enjoyed a robust career development bust, traversing
the advertising, primary, secondary,
college of education, polytechnic
education systems before joining
the Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology in 1992.
He is a prodigious scholar
with pioneering groundbreaking
achievements. Two of his books,
the first on-campus cultism inspired the National Association of Nigerian Students’ anti-cultism activities of the late 1990s.
He originated new approaches
that transformed art practice and
its scholarship in Nigeria, evolved
Nigeria’s first B.Tech degree programme in Fine and Applied Arts
in 1992, developed Nigeria’s first
curricula for postgraduate diploma
and Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in studio, the aspect of
Fine and Applied Arts, pioneered
the inclusion of Digital Art in
tertiary education curriculum in
Nigeria and is the fons-et-origo of
Form and Material Technology in
Fine Art.
Professor Kalilu is on record
as having trained Nigeria’s first
hearing-impaired Art Historian
(2004).
He also produced Nigeria’s
first M.Tech degrees in Drawing
(2011) and Communication Design (2015); Nigeria’s first PhDs
in Environmental and Industrial
Sculpture (2012) and Ceramics and
Glass (2015); the global first PhD in
Form and Material Technology in
Fine Art (2014) and, Nigeria’s first
Military Artist with a Ph.D. degree
(2017).
Similarly, the new acting Vice
Chancellor can never be described
as an administrative featherweight
having served as: Vice President of
Fine Arts Students Association;
Branch and Zonal Chairman of
SSATHURAI; Head of Department; Dean of Faculty, Chairman,
Committee of Deans; Chairman,
Committee of Deans and Provosts;
and Deputy Vice-Chancellor of
LAUTECH, among numerous
other responsibilities.
He is among the extremely few
numbers of scholars consistently
invited to participate, over the last
seven years, in the QS World Uni
-versity Rankings and the Times
Higher Education University
Rankings.
Professor Rom Kalilu is a recipient of many international prizes and awards, which include:the Gold Medal in the 1978-1979.
Other are the All-Africa Painting Contest; Elected Membership of the New York. Academy of Sciences; The National Arts Wizard Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Art History in 1997; Merit Prize in International Postage Stamp Design Contest in 1997; the Outstanding People of the 20th Century Outstanding Achievement Medal in 2000 and Twentieth Century Achievement Award in 2000; selection as one of the 1000 Leaders of World Influence for the 21st century in year 2000; the distinguished and exceptional Universal Award of Accomplishment in 2000; Development in Nigeria Merit Award in 2006 among others.
