It was another historic moment yesterday as the entire Redeemer’s University congregation unanimously put forward one of her most impeccable scholars, Professor Idowu Odebode, to represent her interests at the Governing Council. He replaced Mrs. Moji Oje who has been appointed the Registrar and the Secretary to Council of the University.
Professor Odebode obtained his first degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria, with a specialization in English (1993). He also attended the Nigerian Institute of Journalism in Lagos, where he bagged a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism (1996) before proceeding to the University of Ibadan for an MA and PhD in English (language) in 2001 and 2010 respectively.
He had a stint in Nigerian Tribune and the University of Ibadan before moving to the Redeemer’s University in 2006. He was the first recipient of the American Name Society Emerging Scholar Award (ANSESA) in Chicago, USA (2008), the fourth in the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (African Toponymy Competition) New York 2011, and the founding President of the Society for the Study of Names in Nigeria (SSNN) in 2013.
He was a Commonwealth Fellow/visiting lecturer at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom in 2015. He was also a visiting lecturer at Anchor University, Lagos (2017-2018). He has also carried out research at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England; and, the University of Naples, Italy. He is the outgoing Director of General Studies, at Redeemer’s University, Ede (March, 2019-July, 2023). He was a former Ag. Head, Department of English and Foreign Languages (2015-2017) cum pioneer Ag. Head of the Foreign Languages Department (2013-2015).
His areas of interest include Onomastics, Sociolinguistics, Pragmatics and Discourse Stylistics. Professor Odebode has served as an editor of several publications. His works have appeared in reputable journals (both locally and globally) such as Names, Onomastica Canadiana, Marang, and Halliday Library Functional Linguistic Series, among others. He is a member of many onomastic and linguistic bodies, including the American Name Society, the Linguistic Society of America, the International Council of Onomastic Sciences, the European Centre for Research Training and Development, UK, Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland (Affiliate Member), and the English Studies Association of Nigeria.
Above all, he has supervised many undergraduate and postgraduate works, including the first PhD thesis in the Department of English, Redeemer’s University, Ede. He is currently supervising four doctoral students.
This unassuming gentleman is a pastor, poet and radio presenter.