Awards

Titled Professor (2009)

Chancellor's Professor of French and Women's Studies

About Obioma G. Nnaemeka

Professor Obioma Nnaemeka was born in Agulu in southeastern Nigeria. She received a B. A. (Hons) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and a PhD with distinction (French) from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. She was a Rockefeller Humanist-in-Residence (University of Minnesota), Edith Kreeger-Wolf Distinguished Visiting Professor (Northwestern University) and Verne Wagner Distinguished Visiting Professor (University of Kansas).

Professor Nnaemeka is an expert in the fields of gender/women's studies and development. As the founder and president of the Association of African Women Scholars, Professor Nnaemeka has collaborated with a global network of scholars and activists committed to social transformation. She is the President and CEO of the Jessie Obidiegwu Education Fund, an NGO dedicated to the education of women and girls in Africa. She is a member of the Board of Directors of many NGOs and on the Editorial or Advisory Board of several refereed scholarly journals. Professor Nnaemeka combines research and teaching with consultancy for the United Nations, the World Bank, governments, international agencies, and academic institutions. She is the convener of the "Women in Africa and the African Diaspora" international conferences.

Professor Nnaemeka has received numerous national and international awards as well as grants and fellowships from several foundations and agencies, including Rockefeller, MacArthur, UNIFEM, SIDA (Sweden), SAREC (Sweden), and IRDC (Canada). She has delivered more than 100 keynote addresses, lectures, and papers in over 30 countries on five continents. She has published extensively in the following areas: development, women/gender studies, human rights, and African/African Diaspora studies. She is the author of over sixty scholarly articles and book chapters, editor of the 10-volume WAAD collection, and author/editor of eleven books.