Financial Secretary: Tunji AZEEZ, PhD
Dr. Tunji Azeez joined the Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo-Lagos, as an Associate Lecturer in the Department of English in July 1998. As a theatre scholar and practitioner, he saw great theatrical potentials in the students. This led him to move the activities of his theatre troupe, Optimom Arts Konsotiom (OAK) fully into the campus to join earlier members of the Department, namely, Dr. Sola Fosudo, Mrs. Tosan Ugbeye (who has left the university) and Mr. Adebunkunola Adedoyin, who were already using their troupes as platforms to nurture students.
In 2000, he and Dr. Sola Fosudo proposed the establishment of a fully-fledged Department of Theatre Arts to the Board of the Department of English and later designed the curriculum of the B.A. Theatre Arts programme. This was eventually approved by the University Senate in 2001.
His research interests are Gender/Feminist Theory and Criticism, War and Peace Studies, Theatre for Development (TfD), as well as Media and Cultural Studies, with particular emphasis on Film Studies. He has published three books and several articles in books and journals. He recently co-edited a book, entitled, Inside Nollywood: Issues and Perspectives on Nigerian Cinema, with Dr. Sola Fosudo.
Dr. Azeez has won a number of national and international fellowships and travel grants some of which are Postdoctoral Fellowship of the American Council of Learned Societies’ (ACLS) Carnegie Fund for Conference Attendance, TETFund Institution Based Research Grant, Travel Grant of the Centre for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA), Osun State Travel grant, Ekiti State Travel grant, and others. He has also served as External Assessor for a number of PhD, MFA and MA candidates, particularly at the University of Ghana, Legon.
As a writer, director, actor and resource person and consultant, Dr. Azeez has worked for a number of organisations, such as, the Ford Foundation USA, the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), the Centre for Advocacy, Research and Action Against Violence, DBS Media, Goldmyne Productions, Musicological Society of Nigeria (MUSON), National Association of Nigerian Theatre Artists (NANTAP), Alliance Francaise, BBC Media Action, M-Net, SMAT Media, and many others.
An Arts and Media Consultant, Content Developer, former Acting Head of Department and Associate Professor of Theatre and Film and Media Arts, Lagos State University, Dr. Azeez served in the African Movies Academy Awards (AMAA) College of Screeners from 2008 to 2013.