Mejai Mike Avoseh
Hall of Fame Class of 2022
Mejai Bola Mike Avoseh is a professor of adult and higher education at the University of South Dakota. He holds dual citizenship from Nigeria and the United States, which is relevant since he is not only an educator; he is a bridge builder as well. In vigorously pursuing research and producing publications for the field, Avoseh has distinguished himself as a well-respected multilingual, multicultural scholar, practitioner, and boundary spanner between Western and indigenous ways of knowing. A world leader in adult education, comparative/international/multicultural education, and indigenous pedagogy, he has especially brought research, theory, and practical applications to bear in strengthening connections between universities and African countries.
Avoseh earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy, a postgraduate diploma in teacher education, and a doctorate in adult education, all from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He also holds a Master of Science degree in educational leadership and administration from the College of Saint Rose, Albany. Avoseh began his post-secondary level teaching career as an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Adult Education, University of Ibadan, and Saints Peter and Paul Seminary, Ibadan, from 1986 to 1995. He relocated to the United States in 1995. He then moved to the University of Namibia where he taught from 1998 to 2001. There he co-founded the Department of Adult and Nonformal Education. He returned to the United States 2001. In 2004 he joined the University of South Dakota, becoming a full professor in 2015.
He has been recognized through many honors and awards. In 2019, he received the Outstanding Service Medallion of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). He is a double recipient of the J. William Fulbright Core Award for U.S. Scholars for teaching and research (2013, Botswana; 2019, Nigeria). The impact of his indigenous-oriented Fulbright Awards resulted in his being commissioned by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning to study adult learning and education for global citizenship in South Africa and was published in the institute’s Citizenship Education. Previously, his research on rural literacy received the institute’s Special Mention in 1992. For his avid support of veterans on the University of South Dakota campus he was recognized with the Arle L. Olson Award for Continued Veteran Support. In 2020, he was elected to the board of the International Society for Comparative Adult Education. He served as Director of the Commission for International Adult Education (CIAE) and on the board of the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) from 2016-2020.
He has published widely in different areas of adult and higher education, international and comparative education, diaspora and global citizenship, rural development, literacy, indigenous/cultural education as well as in gender and policy issues in education in various first-tier disciplinary journals and with leading publishers. He has published 15 books/book chapters, written 47 refereed publications, and delivered more than 90 conference presentations. His classic article on lessons of traditional Africa for lifelong learning is often cited across disciplines. Other articles have appeared in Canadian Journal of Development Studies, Adult Education Quarterly, and Innovations in Lifelong Learning: Critical Perspectives, among many others. The Nigerian National Council for Adult Education (NNCAE) honored him with an International Ambassador Award at their 50th anniversary. He was a member of the 50th anniversary planning committee and co-editor for their anniversary book. He was part of the delegation that produced the Cape Town Statement on Lifelong Learning in 2001. His well-received and implemented research, publications, keynote addresses, and public lectures in national and international forums continue to enhance the visibility and stature of adult and continuing education.