Professor
Harrison Adeniyi, with a PhD in general linguistics from the University of Ibadan, teaches linguistics, Yoruubaa and communication at the Lagos State University, Lagos, Nigeria. He is currently the President, Linguistic Association of Nigeria (LAN) and has over 60 published works in both local and international journals and books. He was a visiting Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Vermont, Burlington, USA in 2011 and African Studies Institute of the same university in October 2016; a visiting scholar at the Osaka University Research Institute for World Languages, Osaka, Japan in 2010 and was also a visiting scholar at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA.in Fall 2003, Spring 2004, Spring 2005, Spring 2006; Fall 2007, Spring 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2015 and Fall 2016. He is an External Evaluator/Yorubaa Language Assessor for the U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Intensive Yoruuba Group Project Abroad since 2010. In 2010, he was appointed a member of the 17-man Technical Committee set up by the Government of Nigeria on the development of a National Language Policy. He was also the Coordinator, Southwest of Nigeria geopolitical zone of the Technical Committee. He is currently the Chairman, National Technical Committee on the development of a National Language Policy for Nigeria. He is a fellow, National African Language Resource Center, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, in 2003, a fellow of the African Studies Institute, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA in 2003 and also a fellow, National African Language Resource Center, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, in 2013. He, with four other colleagues at the Institute of African Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, got a research grant of $298,000:00 in 2003 awarded by the US Department of Education on a three-year project (2004-2006) to develop reading materials titled: AKOYE: Yoruba language online learning and teaching (AKOYE: www.africa.uga.edu/Yoruba/index). He got a travel grant of $3,000 from the Public Affairs Section of the American Consulate, Lagos, Nigeria to attend the 2003 Summer Institute of the National African Language Resource Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison. He served as the Yoruba language team leader for the inter-country project to harmonize and standardize Yoruba orthographies for the West African nations of Nigeria, Togo and Benin. The project, initiated in 2010, was supported by the Center for Black and African Arts Civilization (CBAAC) and Center for Advanced Study of African Societies (CASAS) in South Africa. He is also a consultant to UNESCO on mother-tongue instructions in Nigerian elementary and high schools, a consultant to the Lagos State House of Assembly on the Use of Yorùbá for legislative deliberations, and also a consultant to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on Data for Education Research and Programming (DERP) in Africa (on Nigerian languages) working with Tangerine application. He is currently the Secretary and Treasurer of the African Language Teachers Association of the U.S. (ALTA) and as pioneer member of the American Association of Teachers of Yoruba (AATY). He was appointed to the Delegate Assembly of ALTA in the United States as an international representative in 2014. He has participated at several international conferences of the West African Linguistics Society (WALC), African Language Teachers Association (ALTA), the Annual Conference on African Linguistics in the U.S. (ACAL), and World the Congress on African Linguistcs (WOCAL).
He was a member of the Governing Council, Lagos State University from 2011 to 2014. He is currently a member of the Governing Board, Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), member, Governing Board, National Institute for Nigerian Languages, Aba, and Governing Council, West African Linguistics Society, representing the Linguistic Association of Nigeria, from December 2016.
