Professor Funso Akere was born in Igbobini, Ese-Odo LGA of Ondo State in 1940. he had his primary school education at the Methodist Schools in Igbobini and Ode-aye. He attended Teacher’s Colleges at Ode-Aye and Ilesha and later passed the GCE (O/Level and A/Level) to enter University in 1965. His higher academic qualifications include: B.A. (Hons) English & Geography (1968), University of Lagos; M.A. Linguistics and English Language Teaching (1969), University of Leeds, U.K; and Ph.D Linguistics (1977), University of Edinburgh, U.K. He was appointed Professor of English Language at the University of Lagos in 1987.
He has taught at both undergraduate and post-graduate levels in universities within and outside Nigeria. These are the Obafemi Awolowo University (1969-71); Lagos State University, Ojo (1984-85 and 1986-87); University of Florida, Gainesville U.S.A. (January-April 1985) and University of Lagos, Akoka (1971 to 2002). Professor Akere has also attended a number of international conferences, in different institutions and countries such as Scotland (1970), England (1976), Sweden (1978), Benin (1980), North Korea (1983), USA (1985, 1994 and 1995), Senegal (1995) and Ghana (1996), not to mention the numerous ones in which he has participated in Nigeria.
The administrative record of Professor Akere includes: Dean, Faculty of Arts, UNILAG (1993-97); Head, Department of Languages & Linguistics, LASU (1986-87); Chairman, Student Welfare Board, UNILAG (1993-1997); Chairman, Central Admission Committee, UNILAG (1999-2000); Chairman, Environment & Sanitation Committee, UNILAG (2000 to 2002); Head, Department of English, UNILAG (1988-91 and 2000-2002); Member, Governing Council, UNILAG (2000-2002). In addition, Professor Akere has served in various Committees and Boards in the University of Lagos.
Professor Akere’s research interests are in the application of linguistic theory and methodology in the description and analysis of language forms and functions in multilingual situations. His specialization is in Sociolinguistics with emphasis on language variation, discourse analysis and the communicative competence of second-language users of the English language. In May 1991, the Federal Minister of Education appointed him Consultant and Head of the Language Development Centre in the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (N.E.R.D.C.) Sheda-Abuja. Between 1991 and 1993, he led a team that did research work on Nigerian languages and the English Language, and also on curricula development in these languages for primary and secondary levels of education. He was the Co-ordinator of the Survey of Nigerian English Usage, the Nigerian version of the International Corpus of English (ICE) research project.
He has authored and co-authored a number of books, and has published scholarly articles in journals and in books from 1974 till date. He has also won both national and international awards and scholarships in furtherance of his academic pursuits, notable among which are: Western Region of Nigerian Scholarship for under-graduate studies at the University of Lagos (1965-68); British Council Scholarship for postgraduate studies at Leeds University, U.K. (1968-69; Nigerian Federal Government Scholarship for doctoral research at Edinburgh University, U.K. (1974-76); British Overseas Development Agency Grant for Project Leaders course in Communication Skills in English in Nigerian Universities at the University of Reading, U.K. (1990); British Council Grant for participation in the ‘Third Summer Institute of English and Applied Linguistics’, at the University of Cambridge (1995); and United States of Information Agency’s Travel Grant for International Scholars’ visit to eight universities in California and Texas, U.S.A. (1995). He attended a course on Management of Higher Institutions at Galilee College in Israel in June 2003.
In April 2002, the Ondo State Governor and Visitor to Adekunle Ajasin University approved the appointment of Professor Akere as Vice-Chancellor of the University. He assumed duties in May 2002. He worked assiduously to transform the University into an enviable citadel of learning till the end of his tenure in April 2006. In November 2006, he was given a contract appointment as Professor of English Language by the Redeemer’s University Mowe, where he is now the Dean of the College of Humanities.
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