Next week Saturday in Atlanta, GA., Professor Aliko Songolo will be honored by the African Literature Association (ALA) as Distinguished Member. This is a highly prestigious award given once a year—and only one per year—to an outstanding senior member for “long and meritorious service” to the organization and for dedication to the “promotion of teaching and research in African literatures.”
The award is a much-deserved recognition for Prof. Songolo. He has served the association in more leadership capacities (president, annual meeting convener, etc) and for more times than any other, and contributed immensely to the thriving of the organization today. The award reminds us that this is also a great recognition for our Department and its large role over the past decades in the life of the ALA (Profs. Dan Kunene, Edris Makward, etc, were also active leaders; Prof. Teju Olaniyan is current Past President; Prof. John Nimis is current member of the Executive Council; and Prof. Matt Brown is current Webmaster). We are proud of this, and of its sponsoring fact: our department has been and remains the foremost place to study African literatures and languages in the most robust and integrated manner, and with campus-level resources that are second to none anywhere.
Please join us in congratulation Professor Songolo.
The ALA annual meeting runs from April 6-9, 2016.
https://africanlit.org/
http://ala2016.com/