The pioneer Provost of the Post Graduate College, University of Ibadan (UI), Prof. Jonathan Oyebamiji Babalola, has been appointed as the new vice chancellor of BOWEN University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria.
Bowen University is a private Baptist Christian Nigerian University that is housed in the old 1,300-acre campus of the Baptist College, a teacher-training institution on a hill just outside the city and it is affiliated with the Nigerian Baptist Convention.
Babalola is succeeding Professor Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, whose tenure expires on Tuesday, August 1, 2023.
Babalola, who was born on February 14, 1968, attended Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), Ile-Ife, between 1984 and 1989, where he bagged B. Sc. (Ed.) (Hon) in Chemistry.
He later proceeded to the University of Ibadan for his M. Sc. (1991-1993) and Ph.D., (1994-1999), both in Biophysical Chemistry.
The title of his M.Sc. project is “Kinetics of cyanide binding to chicken methaemoglobin” and his Ph.D. thesis is “Effects of neighbouring groups and aggregation on sulfhydryl reactivity of haemoglobin”.
After completing his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) observed between 1989 and 1990 at Iwo Comprehensive High School, where he taught Chemistry and Mathematics, he took up teaching jobs in some secondary schools in Nigeria.
Babalola joined UI in 1992 when he was appointed as a Tutorial Assistant in the Department of Chemistry where he taught first-year students.
He was at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomosho, between (1995 and 1997) as Assistant Lecturer teaching kinetics and thermodynamics.
He returned to UI in 1997 as Assistant Lecturer where he steadily rose to become a professor in 1997.
In UI, he served in various capacities including, a member of the University Senate, member of the Faculty of Science Appointment and Promotion Committee, Chair of the Technical Committee for the Faculty of Science biannual International Conference, member of the University Strategic Planning Committee, Chair of the Faculty of Science, Inaugural Lecture Committee, University of Ibadan Representative on the Governing Board of Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, Nigeria, examination officer, Sub-Dean (Sciences), Chemistry. Member, examination committee, Sub-Dean (Postgraduate), and Sub-Dean (Physical).
He has successfully supervised over ten doctoral students and numerous undergraduate and Master’s degree projects.
