Akpan Emilienne Idorenyin

Emilienne Akpan is the Director of the American University of Nigeria Writing Center and holds a full-time faculty position in Writing and French. Her previous teaching experience included being an adjunct instructor of Modern Languages at the University in 2012 and a K-12 teacher in English and French at the AUN Academy from 2012 to 2014. Preceding these roles, she distinguished herself as the Head of School of SANVEE International School in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, where she played a pivotal role in establishing its reputation as one of the premier private schools in the State over six years.

Specializing in modern languages, academic writing, and mass communication, Ms Akpan is a certified social and behavioural investigator. She has adeptly applied her diverse skills and experiences to enhance academic integrity and work with a great team that boosts the operational standards of the AUN Writing Center in alignment with international best practices. Actively engaged in the Global Liberal Arts Alliance (GLAA) Course Connection programs since 2016 and the American International Consortium of Academic Libraries (AMICAL) conferences since 2019, she has dedicated herself to fostering global academic collaborations.

Noteworthy is her co-creation, in collaboration with Dr. Ekaterina Galimova of the American University of Central Asia, of the Virtual International Universities Debates (VIDS) during the Spring of 2020. This AMICAL-based initiative facilitates virtual discussions on contemporary issues, connecting American University of Nigeria students with their counterparts in other countries. This interclass partnership has continued to thrive, involving three to five participating schools each semester.

Emilienne Akpan's commitment to professional excellence has been recognized with the AUN Outstanding Staff Award in 2013 and a scholarship from the French Embassy for French Teacher training at Université d’Été, Nantes, in France, in the same year. She was a beneficiary of an AMICAL grant in 2018 for the Capturing a Digital History of Hausa Narratives in a Cross-Institutional Multilingual Translation Project Across Borders (with Kate Roy at Franklin University, Switzerland) and the 2019 Global Liberal Arts Alliance (GLAA) oral history project grant for the Participative Narration: Words and Foods that Heal digital history course connection project. In 2021, the AUN Judicial Affairs office honored her with the Meritorious Service Award.

Ms Akpan actively represents AUN in the International Center for Academic Integrity (ICAI). She holds memberships in various professional bodies, including Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Association, AE E-Teacher Community of Practice/OPEN Online Professional English Network, College Reading & Learning Association (CRLA), and Gender-Based Violence Area of Responsibility (GBV AoR) Community of Practice. Her affiliations have previously included the International Writing Centers Association (IWCA) and the Association for the Coaching & Tutoring Profession (ACTP).

Engaged in national and international capacity-building programs, Ms Akpan has served as an Alumni Facilitator of the Online Professional English Network (OPEN) Academic Writing Centers MOOC delivered by Iowa State University. She has undertaken text reviews in English and French and, in the past, coordinated digital editions of the AUN School of Arts & Sciences (SAS) Bulletin and REFLECTIONS, the AUN students' digital literary magazine.

Emilienne Akpan, under the name Emilienne Motaze, published "Her African Face" (Y-Fenni, Gwent: The Collective 1993), a poetry volume, and contributed to various creative writing publications. Her academic contributions include unpublished projects, journal articles and book chapters, showcasing her expertise in semiotics, public relations, academic integrity, teaching English to speakers of other languages, and multiliteracies in higher education.

Committed to social impact, Ms Akpan founded the Idorenyin Akpan Foundation to assist vulnerable individuals affected by migration and combat gender-based stereotypes. She has been trained as a gender-based violence specialist by the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) and also holds a Postgraduate Diploma and a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of Uyo, Nigeria; a French teacher’s training certificate from the Université d’Été in Nantes, France; a certificate in translation, interpreting, and English literature from the University of East Anglia, England; and a Bachelor of Arts in Bilingual Letters with specialization in English & French from the University of Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Emilienne Akpan epitomizes a dedicated academic professional with a rich and diverse background, contributing significantly to the academic community and beyond and is pursuing a Communication and Multimedia Design doctoral degree at the American University of Nigeria (AUN).