Prof. Rasak Olatunde Kalilu of Fine and Applied Arts Department, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso will resume work tomorrow, as the acting vice chancellor of the institution.
The current acting Vice Chancellor of the University, Prof. Majeed Liasu, whose tenure expires June 12 this year, will be leaving the country tomorrow.
A memo signed by the Registrar of the University, Dr Kayode Ogunleye, and made available to staff and students read in part, “I have the directive of the acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. M. O. Liasu, to inform the University that he will be travelling out of the country for an important engagement from May 25 to June 7, 2023.
“During the period of absence from the University, he has approved Prof. R. O. R. Kalilu to hold forth for him as the Acting Vice Chancellor.”
Prof. Kalilu is an international erudite scholar of arts and arts history.
The scholar ‘birthed’ the inclusion of Digital Art in tertiary education curriculum in Nigeria and pioneered Form and Material Technology in Fine Art.
He also trained Nigeria’s first hearing-impaired Art Historian in 2004.
In 2011, Prof. Kalilu produced Nigeria’s first M.Tech degrees in drawing and did the same in communication design in 2015.
He trained Nigeria’s first PhDs in Environmental and Industrial Sculpture in 2012 and Ceramics and Glass in 2015.
A recipient of many international recognition, prizes and awards, he won the Gold Medal in the 1978-1979 All-Africa Painting Contest and was elected Member of the New York Academy of Sciences.
He also won the National Arts Wizard Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Art History in 1997 and the Merit Prize in International Postage Stamp Design Contest in 1997.
In 2000, he was honored one of the Outstanding People of the 20th Century and won the Outstanding Achievement Medal.
That same year, he won the Twentieth Century Achievement Award in 2000 after being selected as one of the 1000 Leaders of World Influence for the 21st century.
Others include; the distinguished and exceptional Universal Award of Accomplishment in 2000; Development in Nigeria Merit Award in 2006 and Form and Material Technology Icon award in 2009. He is currently a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Artists, a member of several organizations, which include the International Association of Astronomical Artists
