The 2019 Founder's Day--14th in the series--comes up at 4 pm on November 30.
Preparations are in top gear for the annual celebration of the historic founding and growth of the American University of Nigeria, Africa's first development university.
The AUN Learning Community will be honored to have Dr. Paul Vita, an American academic of nearly 30 years in the institution of higher education as keynote speaker.
Dr. Vita is the president of the Madrid Campus of Saint Louis University, otherwise known as the American University in Spain. As the chief executive officer, he is responsible for managing the multi-million-euro annual budget of SLU.
Some of his milestone accomplishments at SLU are strategically increasing student enrollment from 600 to 1,000 students, introducing seven additional undergraduate programs, receiving IIE’s Heiskell Award in 2013 for expanding academic programming to open semester-length study abroad, increasing faculty research productivity through grantsmanship training, and introducing the sabbatical system. He also serves on the university-wide steering committees for HLC and AACSB re-accreditation.
Dr. Vita earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English from Yale University, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil), a Master of Arts (MA), and a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in English from Columbia University. His research interest focuses on the 19th century British literature and culture, with strong forays into Dickens.
Dr. Vita joined SLU, Madrid Campus, in 1999 as a professor of English. There he has held several academic and administrative positions including, Director of Academic Advising and Scheduling, Chair of English and Communication, Interim Director, and Interim Chair of Humanities & Social Sciences. He has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses and is published widely as well as peer-reviewer for several reviewed journals and CINECA, Italy's national accrediting system.
Before joining SLU, Dr. Vita worked at Morningside College, Iowa, as an Assistant Professor of English, and at Columbia University, New York, where he began as a teaching assistant in 1991, rising to the position of Assistant to the Vice President of Student Services.
Many of Dr. Vita's accolades and awards include SLU-Madrid Student Government Association Presidential Award 2019, Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education 2013, Tommeraasen Award for Excellence in Leadership and Service, Morningside College 1999, and Omicron Delta Kappa National Honors Society, Morningside College 1998.
Dr. Vita will join an elite company of distinguished keynote speakers who have delivered speeches since the inaugural Founder’s Day in 2006. They include the late Dr. Hamidu Alkali, who was the first speaker. In 2018, politically savvy Senator Ben-Murray Bruce delivered the keynote speech, 2017 had African Bureau Chief of The Wall Street Journal, Joe Parkinson, 2016 had Dr Olufunke Iyabo Osibodu, and in 2015 the Founder himself, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, the founder to whom the day is dedicated.
By Togor Passa