By Desire Emmanuel
Professor Mark Nwagwu is a Nigerian zoologist, poet, and retired professor at the University of Ibadan who decided to use his retirement period to pursue another doctorate in the institution.
This week, he successfully defended his Ph.D thesis in Anthropology at the Institute of African Studies, a programme he began four years ago.
His academic qualifications include B.Sc. in Zoology 1961 awarded by the University of London. He studied at University College, Ibadan from 1957.
He thereafter earned M.Sc. in Zoology in 1965, also from the University of London.
He bagged his first Ph.D. in Zoology in 1965 from Stockholm University, Sweden and went ahead with post-doctoral research from 1966 to 1969 at the University of Connecticut, United States of America.
He was a Senior Lecturer, Reader and later Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at University of Ibadan until his retirement in 2002. He also served as Assistant/Associate Professor at Brock University, Canada.
He started with Zoology as his core discipline and later moved into Cell and Molecular Biology, while also publishing poetry and novels in retirement.
He was promoted a full Professor of Zoology in 1982.
Till today, he is the only scholar who is both a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Science and a Fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors.
He is expected to get his second academic laurel during the institution’s convocation ceremony on November 17.
