Professor (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Olufemi Oduwole, Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (FNAL), Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Administration (FCIA), is a rare amalgam of scholarship, integrity, purpose, and vision. Her ascendancy as the fifth substantive and first female Vice Chancellor of the Ajayi Crowther University is more than a milestone; it is a clarion call to the potential of every daughter of the Nigerian nation.

From the Yoruba root of her names – Ebunoluwa (“God’s gift”) and Olufemi (“God loves me”) – flows a life of service, intellect, and rooted dignity. She is indeed a gift to the academia; loved and respected, she is one who walks in the heavy shoes of women of worth: women like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Margaret Ekpo, Grace Alele-Williams, Moremi Ajasoro – those who carved space where none existed; she now carves a legacy in a seat never before held by a woman in this University.

Professor (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Olufemi Oduwole was born on September 10 1962, into the family of the late Very Revd (Sir) Fredrick Oyenuga and Helen Olufunke Womiloju of Ogere–Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria. Her father was a principal of Christian schools (Methodist and Wesleyan), a Methodist priest, a Presbyterian in the Cathedral, and a Knight of the Order of Charles Wesley. Her mother was the daughter of Baba Ijo of the Methodist Church in Ogere-Remo.

She attended United Missionary College (UMC) Demonstration School, St Anne’s School, Molete, Ibadan, and Remo Secondary School, Sagamu, Ogun State. She holds a PhD, M.A., and B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, and an MSc in Bioethics from a consortium of universities, including Katholieke University, Leuven, Belgium; Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands; and the University of Padova, Padova, Italy. As an accomplished Professor of repute, Prof. (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Oduwole has been teaching, conducting research, and engaging in community development for forty years in various universities in Nigeria and internationally. With over forty years of teaching experience, she has successfully graduated students at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels from at least five universities in Nigeria and other African countries. She has served as a visiting lecturer, external examiner, and external assessor for Professorial Cadre appointments to various Departments of Philosophy in and outside Nigeria.

She is a torchbearer of intellect, ethics, and vision; a woman whose life and legacy embody the union of tradition and transformation. Her rise to the office of Vice Chancellor — the first woman to hold this position in our institution’s history — is no accident of time, but the consequence of a life lived with unyielding purpose, deep-rooted discipline, and unwavering service.

She comes not merely to occupy a seat, but to redefine what it means to lead — with scholarship as her scepter, integrity as her robe, and generational uplift as her charge. This is not just a new chapter; it is the turning of the page towards a future led by wisdom, guided by conscience, and grounded in a truth we must all now affirm: that excellence knows no gender, and destiny bows to no ceiling.

Contributions, Research and Thought Leadership

1. Since her promotion to the rank of Professor in October 2013, she has served with distinction, weaving together scholarship and leadership in African Philosophy, Ethics, and Bioethics — fields she has enriched by insisting on their cultural relevance and by interrogating colonial legacies in thought.
2. Her works — books, chapters, journal articles — venture boldly into morally complex terrain: end-of-life decision-making, moral dignity, organ transplantation, gender equality, and the ethics of artificial intelligence, all viewed through African cultural lenses such as Omoluwabi, communitarianism, and Iku-ya-J’esin. She treats Philosophy not as ivory tower abstraction, but as living discourse that comforts, challenges, and shapes society.
3. Professor Oduwole is also an ethics practitioner: she is an accredited facilitator for the National Health Research Ethics Committee (NHREC), a mentor in research ethics and methodologies, and a consultant, serving in institutions across Nigeria and in The Gambia. Her current research agenda spans global issues — artificial intelligence, genome editing, gender-based violence — all the while maintaining intimate, local relevance.
4. Professor (Mrs) Ebunoluwa Olufemi Oduwole has a remarkable teaching acumen and can work with different, all-inclusive methods of teaching. She is a dedicated, organised and committed academic. She is self-motivated and a successful administrator per excellence. Prof. (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Oduwole is resilient, a work in progress, a multitasker, resultdriven, a goal-getter, energetic, honest, reliable, dependable, resourceful, ethical in all dealings, a team player, amiable, and God-fearing. She enjoys modelling for upcoming academics and youths in general. She can be very engaging, and she loves receiving feedback from students to enhance her academic and personal growth. Prof (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Olufemi Oduwole is deeply rooted in Anglican Christian values and ideals. She is a member of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Chaplaincy, a dutiful clergy wife, Bible study teacher, and a member and Matron of many Christian Societies within the Anglican Communion of Nigeria. She is also a matron to societies within her community, thus demonstrating her excellent relationship between town and gown.
5. Prof. (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Oduwole has won several awards throughout her academic career. The awards include:

1. 1. Dean’s Award: A Certificate of Merit for the Best Student in the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. 1981/82 Session.
   2. Alvan Ikoku Prize in       Philosophy: (For   the     Best      Graduating Student          in Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Ibadan) 1982/83 Session.
   3. Long Service Award, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago – Iwoye, February 9 2006.
   4. Economic European Commission Scholarship Award (An Erasmus Mundus Scholarship in Bioethics) 2011/2012.

Leadership, Service, and Institutional Impact

Prof. (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Olufemi Oduwole has won several awards and grants to her credit, she has, as well, facilitated entrepreneurship training programmes for students within and outside her university. from her various roles include but not limited to:

1. 1. Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic and Administration,    then Administration),
   2. Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Head of Department, and much more.
   3. She has stewarded curriculum development, accreditation panels, institutional governance, committees on strategic planning, and oversight roles, always with discipline, vision, and ethical consistency.
   4. The primary Faculty Advisor for Olabisi Onabanjo University Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)/ENACTUS, an entrepreneurial program for Students;
   5. Leader of the Ethics Safeguarding Committee of “The application of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) mobile reporting tool and data science to mitigate gender-based violence and security challenges during and post-COVID-19 in Nigeria” a $1 Million Project executed by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC/CRDI), Canada, Towntalk and the Social Science Academy of Nigeria (SSAN). Receiver of grants sponsored by various grantors at various levels of her career. She is the Principal Investigator of the Tertiary Education Fund (TETFund) National Research Fund Project on “Developing an Ethical and Culture-sensitive Framework for the Health Workforce and Stakeholders Implementing Quarantine and Isolation (Q&I) in Nigeria” and a co-researcher of three other institution-based research projects sponsored by TETFund. Prove owner of the Scaling Up Research Ethics and Research Integrity (SURER) Project, an NIH-sponsored project at the Centre for Bioethics in Ibadan, Nigeria, where she teaches a diverse range of topics.
   6. Co-Researcher on a study focusing on Jedi-Jedi in Nigeria and the risk of tooth decay: a multidisciplinary, quantitative, collaborative research project.
   7. Co-Researcher in a collaborative Qualitative Study of Yoruba Culture and the Utilisation of Modern Dental Services for Oral Health Research. She is also a Co-Researcher and Ethics Expert in the PROWASH Concept Team, A Collaborative Water Project (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Projects).

       

   8. Key Contact person and Co-Researcher on the British Council sponsored project on Sustainable Funding Models in Higher Education. A project conducted by the Swansea University School of Entrepreneurship Studies and Olabisi Onabanjo University, involving numerous successful entrepreneurs and agropreneurs in Nigeria. Notably participated at the 2020 WHO Satellite Meeting in Singapore on ethics and human genome editing, as well as served as the presenter on the COVID-19 TRIPS Waiver by the SADC: South African Commission in 2021.
   9. Advisory Board member, Consultant and mentor in research ethics and methodology and/or curriculum development and evaluation, on Gambia Research Ethics and Methodology Training Initiative (GAMRETI), at the University of The Gambia, Gambia, a grant supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Fogarty International Center. Women of travel grants to attend the Global Forum in Bioethics Research (GFBR) meetings in Annecy, France; Cape Town, South Africa; and Singapore, and is due to attend the 2025 GFBR Meeting in Ghana.
   10. Accredited facilitator of the National Health and Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria (NHREC) in Abuja, Nigeria; a member of the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital Health Ethics Committee, Nigeria;
   11. Faculty member, Centre for Bioethics and Research, Nigeria;
   12. Faculty member, Department of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Ibadan in Ibadan, Nigeria.
   13. Member, Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH).
   14. National Treasurer, Nigerian Philosophical Association (NPA).
   15. Pro-tem Secretary, Nigerian Philosophical Association (NPA).
   16. Member, Philosophers Association of Nigeria (PAN).
   17. Member, Bioethics Society of Nigeria (BESON); and
   18. Fellow, Nigerian Academy of Letters (FNAL).

Significance of Her Appointment

• By becoming the fifth substantive and first female Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Professor Oduwole joins a lineage of trailblazers in Nigeria: women who broke through barriers in education, politics, law, medicine, among others. Her appointment is symbolic and transformational — it signals that talent, character, and excellence will always outrank old ceilings.
• She stands, in character and accomplishment, among the likes of Margaret Ekpo — who fought for women’s rights, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti — who advocated social justice, Moremi Ajasoro — who sacrificed for communal protection. Like them, she blends courage, scholarship, and servant leadership.
• In the corporate world, Prof. (Mrs.) Ebunoluwa Oduwole is an expert examiner and Team Lead, contributing to the development of ethics at the Institutes of Chartered Accountants and Taxation in Nigeria. She is a member of Remo Growth and Development Foundation (RGDF) and New Ogere Agenda (NOA), where she initiates community and educational programs. She has also served as Chairman of the NUC accreditation team for Philosophy Departments.

Vision Moving Forward

With her deep grounding in ethics and bioethics, she is poised to guide the University not merely toward academic growth, but toward moral leadership. Under her stewardship, science and truths will be pursued — but with conscience; innovation — but with humanity; expansion — but with inclusion.

She is uniquely equipped to foster a university environment where young women see possibility, where scholarship is African, and for Africa, and where Ajayi Crowther University becomes not just a citadel of learning, but a fulcrum of ethical social change.