Times-Journal Writer

Concordia College professor and department chairman Dr. Chris Adalikuw recently returned from a year-long trip that allowed him to broaden the minds of college students on the other side of the globe. He also discovered a little something about himself in the process.

Adalikuw, professor of Management and Chair of the Division of Business Administration and Computer Information, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars to spend two semesters teaching and conducting research at Nigeria’s University of Jos.

Adalikuw taught two business courses each semester at the graduate and undergraduate level. He also made recommendations for expanding the university’s accounting and management curriculum.

In addition, he consulted on a Carnegie Grant to develop the university’s information technology, administrative and academic programs.

“I applied for the scholarship through its traditional program, which accepts people with Ph.D.s to work as lectures, research, or both. I did both,” Adalikuw said.

While working at the University of Jos, Adalikuw said he was able to do some extensive traveling across the country, as well as South Africa and Ghana, to lecture at other universities.

His research focus on “organizational management and change” gave him exposure on how some major corporations initiate strategic actions and operational effectiveness.

“I was very busy most of the time,” Adalikuw said. “I wrote journal articles and did some writing for companies. I was also able to take part in presentations and seminars.”

During his time in Nigeria, Adalikuw took on the important position of serving as a consultant on a World Bank project to devise a plan for developing the country’s private sector, which planners considered essential to lowering Nigeria’s substantial unemployment rate and foreign debt. This plan was presented during a conference chaired by the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria and the nation’s president.

The experience in Nigeria was a homecoming of sorts for Adalikuw, who grew up only a few hours away from the University of Jos before coming to the U.S. as a teen-ager two decades ago.

“When I went back, I found it totally different from the way I remembered it as a teen-ager,” Adalikuw said. “My relatives were like strangers, and I was a stranger to them.”

Adalikuw’s two sons, Cody and Corey, where with him during half the trip and attended the American International School, a school for Americans and foreigners from diverse countries.

“The scenery in Nigeria was so beautiful and natural,” Adalikuw said. “It is summer there year round. There are a lot of foreigners who live there because of the weather.”

Despite his busy schedule, Adalikuw and his sons took the time to explore the country, do some mountain climbing and visit the wildlife preserves.

In all, Adalikwu said the trip was one of the most satisfying teaching and research experiences of his life.

“The warmth and friendliness of the Nigerian people as well as the University of Jos administration, faculty, staff and students was something my family will always remember.”