When lush green turns brown, a season ends and another begins. Such will be the case in a couple of months at the University of Ibadan when the current Vice Chancellor’s tenure would be ending after 5 years.
Professor Razaq Olatunde ROM Kalilu, senior professor from the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, LAUTECH, is one of the many candidates that could succeed Professor Idowu Olayinka, whose tenure will end on the 30th of November 2020, as the Vice Chancellor of the university.
A community chat tagged “The voice of the next UI VC: WHO IS NEXT?” hosted by the UI community would be held live on zoom on Wednesday, 17th of September, 2020 by 10:00 am where all nominated candidates (18 of them) would be present. An e-voting election system will thereafter follow within 8 am and 3 pm on Monday, 21 September 2020.
Professor Razaq Olatunde ROM Kalilu is a Professor of Art and Art History who studied at the University of Ibadan. He worked in various parastatals before joining LAUTECH IN 1999. He is an exceptional scholar with groundbreaking feats in his field.
According to ui-community-blogspot He originated new approaches that transformed art practice and its scholarship in Nigeria and evolved Nigeria’s first B.Tech degree programme in Fine/Applied Arts in 1992. He also developed Nigeria’s first curricula for postgraduate diploma and master and doctor of philosophy degrees in the studio in the aspect of Fine/Applied Arts.
In addition, he pioneered the inclusion of Digital Art in tertiary education curriculum in Nigeria, he is the pioneer of Form and Material Technology in Fine Art and he also trained Nigeria’s first hearing-impaired Art Historian in 2004.
In 2011, Prof. ROM Kalilu produced Nigeria’s first M.Tech degrees in drawing and did the same in communication design in 2015. He trained Nigeria’s first PhDs in Environmental and Industrial Sculpture in 2012 and Ceramics and Glass in 2015, the global first PhD in Form and Material Technology in Fine Art (2014), and Nigeria’s first Military Artist with a PhD degree (2017).
A recipient of many international recognition, prizes and awards; he won the Gold Medal in the 1978-1979 All-Africa Painting Contest and was elected Membership of the New York Academy of Sciences. He also won the National Arts Wizard Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Art History in 1997 and the Merit Prize in International Postage Stamp Design Contest in 1997.
In 2000, he was honored one of the Outstanding People of the 20th Century and won the Outstanding Achievement Medal. That same year, he went on to win the Twentieth Century Achievement Award in 2000 after being selected as one of the 1000 Leaders of World Influence for the 21st century.
Others include; the distinguished and exceptional Universal Award of Accomplishment in 2000; Development in Nigeria Merit Award in 2006 and Form and Material Technology Icon award in 2009. He is currently a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Artists, a member of several organizations, which include the International Association of Astronomical Artists. Professor Rom Kalilu is happily married, and the marriage is blessed with children.
If elected, Professor Kalilu will resume office as UI VC on 1st of December 2020.
Article by: Badmus AbdulLateef
UNION OF CAMPUS JOURNALISTS,
LAUTECH CHAPTER
