By Emman Ovuakporie
Prof. Grace Alele-Williams, first female Vice Chancellor of a Nigerian university and the first Nigerian woman to receive a Doctorate degree is dead.
Prof. Alele-Williams died in Benin, Edo State on Friday after a brief illness.
The former Vice Chacellor of the University of Benin was born on December 16, 1932 .
A Professor of mathematics, Alele-Williams was born in Warri, Delta state, and attended Government School, Warri; Queen’s College, Lagos and the University College of Ibadan (now University of Ibadan).
She obtained a master’s degree in mathematics while teaching at Queen’s School, Ede in Osun State in 1957 and her PhD degree in mathematics education at the University of Chicago (U.S.) in 1963, thereby making her the first Nigerian woman to be awarded a doctorate.
Alele-Williams returned to Nigeria for a couple of years’ postdoctoral work at the University of Ibadan before joining the University of Lagos in 1965.
